Process tracing

<p>Process tracing is a qualitative <a href="/facts/Research/mo8joeTL">research</a> method used to develop and test theories. Process-tracing can be defined as the following: it is the systematic examination of diagnostic
evidence selected and analyzed in light of research questions and hypotheses posed by the investigator (Collier, 2011). Process-tracing thus focuses on (complex) causal relationships between the independent variable(s) and the outcome of the dependent variable(s), evaluates pre-existing hypotheses and discovers new ones. It is generally understood as a "within-case" method to draw inferences on the basis of causal mechanisms, but it can also be used for ideographic research or small-N case-studies. It has been used in <a href="/facts/Social_science/hAbm1xtD">social sciences</a> (such as in psychology), as well as in <a href="/facts/Natural_science/8hg81Q2p">natural sciences</a>.
</p><p>Scholars that use process tracing evaluate the weight of evidence on the basis of the strength of tests (notably straw-in-the-wind tests, hoop tests, smoking gun tests, double decisive tests). As a consequence, what matters is not solely the quantity of observations, but the quality and manner of observations. By using <a href="/facts/Bayesian_probability/Cvn7WWfG">Bayesian probability</a>, it may be possible to make strong causal inferences from a small sliver of data through process tracing. As a result, process tracing is a prominent <a href="/facts/Case_study/2gcfBbe6">case study</a> method. Process tracing can be used to study one or a few cases, in order to determine the changes that have occurred over time within these cases and causal mechanisms are responsible for this change.
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Process tracing open-in-new

Process tracing