Qualitative investigation of theoretical models: the value of process tracing
Name
Qualitative investigation.pdf
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578.34 KB
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8e92eeea08587ce3905ebda47bc2d1e8
Author(s)
Lorentzen, P.
Paine, J.
Fravel, Maris Taylor
Date Issued
August 2016
Journal
Journal of Theoretical Politics
Publisher
Sage Publications
Citation
Lorentzen, P., M. T. Fravel, and J. Paine. “Qualitative Investigation of Theoretical Models: The Value of Process Tracing.” Journal of Theoretical Politics (August 29, 2016).
Version
Original manuscript
Abstract
Political scientists frequently use qualitative evidence to support or evaluate the empirical applicability of formal models. Despite this widespread practice, neither the qualitative methods literature nor research on empirically evaluating formal models systematically address the topic. This article makes three contributions to bridge this gap. First, it demonstrates that formal models and qualitative evidence are indeed frequently combined in current research. Second, it shows how process tracing can be as important a tool for empirically assessing models as statistical testing, because models and process tracing share a common focus on understanding causal mechanisms. Last, it provides new guidelines for using process tracing that focus on issues specific to the modeling enterprise, illustrated with examples from recent research.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Political Science
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1177/0951629816664420
