Process tracing : from metaphor to analytic tool / edited by Andrew Bennett, Georgetown University, Jeffrey T. Checkel, Simon Fraser University.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 299-319) and index

Process tracing: from philosophical roots to best practices / Andrew Bennett and Jeffrey T. Checkel -- Process tracing the effects of ideas / Alan M. Jacobs -- Mechanisms, process, and the study of international institutions / Jeffrey T. Checkel -- Efficient process tracing: analyzing the causal mechanisms of European integration / Frank Schimmelfennig -- What makes process tracing good?: causal mechanisms, causal inference, and the completeness standard in comparative politics / David Waldner -- Explaining the Cold War's end: process tracing all the way down? / Matthew Evangelista -- Process tracing, causal inference, and civil war / Jason Lyall -- Improving process tracing: the case of multi-method research / Thad Dunning -- Practice tracing / Vincent Pouliot -- Beyond metaphors: standards, theory, and the "where-next" for process tracing / Jeffrey T. Checkel and Andrew Bennett -- Disciplining our conjectures: systematizing process tracing with Bayesian analysis / Andrew Bennett

1316191109 (electronic bk.) 9781316191101 (electronic bk.) 1139858475 9781139858472 (electronic bk.)

"Advances in qualitative methods and recent developments in the philosophy of science have led to an emphasis on explanation via reference to causal mechanisms. This book argues that the method known as process tracing is particularly well suited to developing and assessing theories about such mechanisms.The editors begin by establishing a philosophical basis for process tracing - one that captures mainstream uses while simultaneously being open to applications by interpretive scholars"--