Faculty:
Derek Beach, Aarhus University
Teaching Assistant: ——
Process tracing is a research method designed to learn how things work in real-world cases. Increasingly used across the social sciences and in applied policy evaluation, process tracing involves unpacking causal processes as they play out within cases and tracing them empirically, enabling within-case causal inferences about the processes that link causes and outcomes together. The aim of this course is to provide participants with a good working understanding of the core elements of process tracing as a distinct social science case study method, enabling you to utilize it in your own research either as a stand-alone method or in combination with other methods in multi-method designs such as experiments or small/medium-n comparisons.
This course is designed for students in the early to mid-stages of a research project, where you have already defined your research question and are interested in learning about what process tracing and related case study methods can be used for.
Some knowledge of basic social science methodology is helpful, although not required. The core of the readings will be a 2019 book on process tracing co-authored by the instructor.
An undergraduate course in research methods, other equivalent basic social science skills, or experience in policy administration/evaluation.