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Instructors: Martin Gellermann
Event type:
Seminar / exercise
Org-unit: Politics, Administration & International Relations
Displayed in timetable as:
AM ProcessTracing
Hours per week:
1,5
Credits:
3,0
Location:
Campus der Zeppelin Universität
Language of instruction:
Englisch
Min. | Max. participants:
5 | 35
Priority scheme: Standard-Priorisierung
Course content:
The course introduces students to a fundamental method of data analysis in case-based qualitative research, process tracing.
Process tracing is the systematic examination of 'diagnostic evidence' selected and analysed in light of research questions and hypotheses posed by the investigator. In essence, it attempts to identify the intervening causal process—the causal chain and causal mechanism—between an independent variable (or variables) and the outcome of the dependent variable. By uncovering this process, it helps to confirm or discard hypothesised explanations for the relationship between X's and Y. Thus, process tracing is key to understand causal relations within the case chosen by the researcher.
Amongst others the following questions will be addressed:
- What is process tracing?
- When should we consider using process tracing?
- How do we conduct process tracing (tests)?
- How do we evaluate the power of process tracing tests?
- How does it compare to other methods of data analysis in qualitative research?
Please note: this course is not a purely theoretical introduction to the method, but hands-on and will help students to conduct their own qualitative research successfullly.
Sample research questions that can be answered by using process tracing could be:
- Why did the behaviour of the UK, France and Germany concerning a military intervention in Syria differ?
- What factors are responsible for the UK’s bargaining success in the negotiations on the CFP’s access provisions?
- What explains the nuclear armament of Russia during the Cold War?
- Why did company X opt for strategy Y?
Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions on contents or the assesment: martin.gellermann@sant.ox.ac.uk
Educational objective:
This course aims at
1.) helping students to make an adequate choice on method selection for data analysis in their own research projects (e.g. Humboldt paper / B.A. thesis)
2.) equipping students with knowledge and tools necessary to successfully apply process tracing to their own research.
Further information about the exams:
1.) A short presentation (10 minutes) in which the students are encouraged to present their (planned) research designs and explain their choice of methods / group presentation (30 minutes); depending on the number of students signed up.
2.) An essay (2000 words) to be handed in two weeks after the last session in which students design two process tracing tests.
OR
An essay (2000 words) to be handed in two weeks after the last session in which students are required to write a methodological critique of Mark Blyth´s 'Great Transformations: Economic Ideas and Institutional Change in the Twentieth Century'
Further information will be given in the first session.
Mandatory literature:
For a solid grasp of the method and its application students should read:
Beach, D., & Pedersen, R. B. (2013). Process-tracing methods: foundations and guidelines. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Bennett, A., & Checkel, J. T. (Eds.). (2015). Process tracing: from metaphor to analytic tool. Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press.
Blyth, M. (2002). Great transformations: economic ideas and institutional change in the twentieth century. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Box-Steffensmeier, J. M., Brady, H. E., & Collier, D. (2008). The Oxford handbook of political methodology. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press.
Brady, H. E., & Collier, D. (Eds.). (2010). Rethinking social inquiry: diverse tools, shared standards (2nd ed). Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Collier, D. (2011). Understanding Process Tracing. PS: Political Science & Politics, 44(04), 823–830. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096511001429 *
Mahoney, J. (2012). The Logic of Process Tracing Tests in the Social Sciences. Sociological Methods & Research, 41(4), 570–597. https://doi.org/10.1177/0049124112437709 *
Don´t be scared of: I am NOT expecting the students to have read the entire list in adavance. But please do read everything marked with an asterisk '*'
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