Process tracing. Between historical narrative and experimental reasoning
Maillet, Antoine
Process tracing. Between historical narrative and experimental reasoning - 2018.
78
This article compares two research studies conducted in Latin America on changes to public policy. One study began from an inductive standpoint while the other took a deductive approach. Despite these differences, the final results – stylized historical narratives, deemed to be minimally sufficient – are essentially similar in terms of their epistemological status. Comparing these two studies allows us to make two significant contributions to the discussion on qualitative and historical methods in political science. First, we can highlight the important capacity process tracing has for establishing close linkages between deductive and inductive moments within a same case study, thus transcending the traditional opposition between the two approaches derived from the positivist tradition. Second, we show that this connection allows researchers to clarify the criteria they use in practice when judging whether causal narratives are sufficient.
Process tracing. Between historical narrative and experimental reasoning - 2018.
78
This article compares two research studies conducted in Latin America on changes to public policy. One study began from an inductive standpoint while the other took a deductive approach. Despite these differences, the final results – stylized historical narratives, deemed to be minimally sufficient – are essentially similar in terms of their epistemological status. Comparing these two studies allows us to make two significant contributions to the discussion on qualitative and historical methods in political science. First, we can highlight the important capacity process tracing has for establishing close linkages between deductive and inductive moments within a same case study, thus transcending the traditional opposition between the two approaches derived from the positivist tradition. Second, we show that this connection allows researchers to clarify the criteria they use in practice when judging whether causal narratives are sufficient.
Réseaux sociaux