Process-Tracing Methods: Foundations and Guidelines

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments This book is dedicated to the memory of our colleague, the late Professor Lise Togeby, and her intellectual curiosity. Six years ago, she asked us two innocuous questions: “What is process-tracing, and how is it different from historical methods or traditional case study methodology?” We were unable to provide her with a satisfactory answer at the time. Six years and one book later, we feel reasonably confident that we can answer the question. We are in debt to the growing volume of work from the qualitative, postKKV methodological community, especially John Gerring’s Case Study Research and Alexander George and Andrew Bennett’s Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences. We would have been unable to build up the foundations of process-tracing methodology without the pioneering work of these scholars. We are also thankful for the opportunity to present our work at conferences and workshops; in particular, we thank the participants on panels on process-tracing and qualitative case study methods at the APSA 2010 and 2011 annual meetings as well as the participants in a research seminar at the University of Oldenburg in November 2010. We also thank the external reviewers for the detailed and perceptive comments that significantly improved the manuscript. Finally, we thank the doctoral students who have attended our courses on process-tracing and case study methods both at the Department of Political Science, University of Aarhus, and at the ECPR Summer School in Slovenia. Teaching such bright students is a privilege and a challenge. Many of the points in this book developed out of classroom discussions about the strengths, weaknesses, and applicability of techniques in different research situations. We hope that the resulting book will prove useful for a new generation of qualitative scholars. Derek Beach and Rasmus Brun Pedersen Aarhus, Denmark December 2011 ...