scholarly journals Enhancing the Robustness of Causal Claims Based on Case Study Research on Conflict Zones: Observations from Fieldwork in Donbas

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Stefan Wolff
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Process Tracing ◽  
Case Study Method ◽  
Causal Inferences ◽  
Conflict Zones ◽  
Central Case ◽  
Data Requirements

Abstract Focusing on process tracing and using the example of fieldwork in Donbas, I develop an argument on what theoretically grounded and empirically detailed methodological solutions can be considered to mitigate the challenges of research on conflict zones and assure the robustness of any causal claims made. I first outline my assumptions about process tracing as the central case study method and its application to research on conflict zones, and then discuss in more detail data requirements, data collection, and data analysis. Using two examples of case studies on the war in and over Donbas, I illustrate how three standards of best-practice in process tracing—the need for a theory-guided inquiry, the necessity to enhance causal inference by paying attention to (and ruling out) rival explanations, and the importance of transparency in the design and execution of research—can be applied in the challenging circumstances of fieldwork-based case studies of conflict zones. I conclude by suggesting that as a minimum threshold for reliance upon causal inferences, these three standards also should align with a standard of evidence that requires both the theoretical and empirical plausibility of any conclusions drawn.

scholarly journals Towards reafirmation of the case study research method: From „building blocks“ and „process tracing“ to typological theories

Sociologija ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 152-167
Author(s):  
Ivana Milovanovic
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Process Tracing ◽  
Case Study Method ◽  
Study Research

This paper represents a contribution to the consideration of the characteristics of the case study research method in sociological researches. In the first part of paper, some specifics of case study method are described, in the second part we represented ways of use of this method in field research. finally, third part of this paper indicates certain ?sub methods? within case study method, such as ?building blocks? and ?process tracing?, which are, at the same time, conditions for developing typological theories. Those ?sub methods? indicate evolution of case study method in social sciences during last few decades, as well as importance of existence and use of such ?elastic? method in all, especially field researches where researcher is facing with a series of cognitive concerns.

Process Tracing in Crisis Decision Making

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek Beach
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Process Tracing ◽  
Causal Process ◽  
Foreign Policy Analysis ◽  
Case Study Method ◽  
Causal Inferences ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Causal Processes

Process tracing is an in-depth case study method that can be used to study how causal processes play out within cases. Given its focus on processes and temporality, process tracing is a useful method for analyzing crisis and crisis decision making in the fields of foreign policy analysis and public policy. As can be seen from its name, process tracing involves theorizing a causal process that is then traced by investigating the observable manifestations of the operation of the process as a whole in the more minimalist variant, or for each of its parts in the more maximalist variant. Minimalist process tracing is typically used early in a research program as a form of plausibility probe to understand what types of processes might be linking a crisis event with particular outcomes like policy change. Maximalist process tracing can then be used once there is preliminary knowledge about processes, and where the goals become gaining a better theoretical understanding of how they operate, and making stronger causal inferences using more direct evidence of their operation.

The Logic and Design of Case Study Research

1988 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald E. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Goal Attainment ◽  
Case Reports ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Validity And Reliability ◽  
Causal Inferences ◽  
Case Study Methodology ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Study Methodology

Advances in applied sport psychology will require the application of experimental, quasi-experimental, and nonexperimental research methodologies. The case study has stimulated important discoveries in many areas of psychology, although its limitations for drawing causal inferences are widely acknowledged. Case studies vary markedly in their design and methodology, however, and these differences dictate the extent to which alternative explanations can be ruled out on procedural or empirical grounds. The present article discusses design considerations that influence the construct validity, internal and external validity, and reliability of case reports. The application of techniques such as pattern matching, time-series analysis, and goal-attainment scaling to case study methodology is also described. Finally, guidelines for planning and reporting case studies in a manner that enhances their scientific and practical contributions are discussed.

Causal Mechanisms and Process Tracing

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Goertz ◽  
James Mahoney
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Case Analysis ◽  
Process Tracing ◽  
Causal Process ◽  
Causal Inferences ◽  
Multimethod Research ◽  
Case Study Analysis ◽  
Causal Mechanisms

This chapter examines how the qualitative and quantitative research traditions empirically assess theories about mechanisms when making causal inferences. In the qualitative paradigm, researchers carry out this assessment by attempting to observe causal mechanisms through process tracing and through the analysis of causal-process observations. In the qualitative paradigm, the within-case analysis of specific cases is combined with the effort to observe mechanisms. By contrast, statistical methods are not designed to observe mechanisms within particular cases. The chapter considers the importance of mechanisms in causal inference as well as the use of process tracing in multimethod vs. qualitative research. It shows that multimethod research, which integrates regression and case study analysis, is increasingly regarded as a best practice.

Process Tracing and International Political Economy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey T. Checkel
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
International Political Economy ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Cutting Edge ◽  
Process Tracing ◽  
Causal Inferences ◽  
Narrative Style ◽  
Study Research ◽  
Research Designs

As a methodological choice, process tracing and qualitative International Political Economy (IPE) would seem a natural fit. These scholars employ case study research designs and theorize in terms of processes and mechanisms—a combination that leads to process tracing as a key method. Yet, in qualitative IPE, one sees little process tracing; or better said, it is there, but only partly operationalized or used implicitly. Surveying the contemporary qualitative IPE literature, this chapter advances two arguments. First, these scholars utilize a narrative style that hides their methods, including process tracing. The result is an empirics–method disconnect, where readers are unsure how data for the narrative was gathered and causal inferences or interpretive understandings gleaned from it. Second, qualitative IPE scholars should do their process tracing better. However, in making this methodological move they should resist the temptation to pull process tracing “off the shelf” and use it. Rather, they should address three cutting-edge issues for process tracers: transparency and formalization; within process-tracing methods; and developing a robust interpretive variant.

What Is a Case Study and What Is It Good for?

2004 ◽  
Vol 98 (2) ◽  
pp. 341-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHN GERRING
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Single Unit ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Intensive Study ◽  
Case Study Method ◽  
Study Research ◽  
Research Designs ◽  
The Subject

This paper aims to clarify the meaning, and explain the utility, of the case study method, a method often practiced but little understood. A “case study,” I argue, is best defined as an intensive study of a single unit with an aim to generalize across a larger set of units. Case studies rely on the same sort of covariational evidence utilized in non-case study research. Thus, the case study method is correctly understood as a particular way of defining cases, not a way of analyzing cases or a way of modeling causal relations. I show that this understanding of the subject illuminates some of the persistent ambiguities of case study work, ambiguities that are, to some extent, intrinsic to the enterprise. The travails of the case study within the discipline of political science are also rooted in an insufficient appreciation of the methodologicaltradeoffsthat this method calls forth. This paper presents the familiar contrast between case study and non-case study work as a series of characteristic strengths and weaknesses—affinities—rather than as antagonistic approaches to the empirical world. In the end, the perceived hostility between case study and non-case study research is largely unjustified and, perhaps, deserves to be regarded as a misconception. Indeed, the strongest conclusion to arise from this methodological examination concerns the complementarity of single-unit and cross-unit research designs.

THE USE OF CASE STUDY METHOD IN TEACHING THE TERMINOLOGY IN THE FIELD OF AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY

2019 ◽  
pp. 123-130
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
The United States ◽  
Machine Building ◽  
Soil Tillage ◽  
Case Study Method ◽  
Agricultural Machine ◽  
Manufacturing Machine

The scientific research works concerning the field of mechanical engineering such as, manufacturing machine slate, soil tillage, sowing and harvesting based on the requirements for the implementation of agrotechnical measures for the cultivation of plants in its transportation, through the development of mastering new types of high-performance and energy-saving machines in manufacturing machine slate, creation of multifunctional machines, allowing simultaneous soil cultivation, by means of several planting operations, integration of agricultural machine designs are taken into account in manufacturing of the local universal tractor designed basing on high ergonomic indicators. For this reason, this article explores the use of case studies in teaching agricultural terminology by means analyzing the researches in machine building. Case study method was firstly used in 1870 in Harvard University of Law School in the United States. Also in the article, we give the examples of agricultural machine-building terms, teaching terminology and case methods, case study process and case studies method itself. The research works in the field of mechanical engineering and the use of case studies in teaching terminology have also been analyzed. In addition, the requirements for the development of case study tasks are given in their practical didactic nature. We also give case study models that allow us analyzing and evaluating students' activities.

scholarly journals Can We Generalize from Case Studies?

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 152-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul F. Steinberg
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Ceteris Paribus ◽  
Large N ◽  
Climate Change Politics ◽  
The Comparative Study

This article considers the role of generalization in comparative case studies, using as exemplars the contributions to this special issue on climate change politics. As a research practice, generalization is a logical argument for extending one’s claims beyond the data, positing a connection between events that were studied and those that were not. No methodological tradition is exempt from the requirement to demonstrate a compelling logic of generalization. The article presents a taxonomy of the logics of generalization underlying diverse research methodologies, which often go unstated and unexamined. I introduce the concept of resonance groups, which provide a causeway for cross-system generalization from single case studies. Overall the results suggest that in the comparative study of complex political systems, case study research is, ceteris paribus, on par with large-N research with respect to generalizability.

scholarly journals Case Studies: A Brief Introduction and Suggested Guidelines for the Field

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-11
Author(s):  
Emma Fleck
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Entrepreneurship Education ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Good Case ◽  
Traditional Research ◽  
Teaching Cases ◽  
Parent Discipline

Case studies are a common teaching and learning tool within entrepreneurship and its parent discipline, business, as a method of bringing the nuances of realism to complex theoretical problems. However, within the arts entrepreneurship field, they are used less frequently for pedagogical purposes and often with hesitation. Consequently, in this guide to the Case Study Edition, I aim to briefly: provide a rationale for using case studies in arts entrepreneurship education; illustrate what makes a good case study; highlight the mechanics of writing case studies by clearly outlining the expectations of a submission to JAEE for both traditional research cases and teaching cases; summarize the cases within this special issue and highlight why they demonstrate best practice example cases.

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