Introduction to Process Tracing

Process Tracing (PT) is a within-case method that focuses on tracing causal mechanisms – the actual 'link' between a trigger (X) and an outcome (Y). This workshop will introduce you to the essentials of this method, its main underlying assumptions and its applicability. We will discuss what causal mechanisms are, how we can 'trace' them and what kind of causal inferences we can draw on the bases of a process-tracing study. Moreover, to position PT in the broader methodological field we will look at how PT relates to, but differs from, other (larger- and small-N) case study methods and discuss what understanding of causality underlies process-tracing. 

This introduction to PT will take a hands-on approach applying the new insights to concrete examples and to the participants' research projects. The first day we will cover most methodological ground and theoretical debates, the second day is largely reserved for debating practical questions and applicability by means of discussing some of the participants’ own research and applications of PT. 

About the lecturer

Dr. Hilde van Meegdenburg, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich & Technical University Munich.