Abstract
This article explores the relationship between the method of process tracing and the data collection technique of elite interviewing. The process tracing method has become an in- creasingly used and cited tool in qualitative research, a trend that is likely to accelerate with the recent publication of Alexander George and Andrew Bennett’s text (2005) on case study research. That book outlines and explores the process tracing method in detail, high- lighting its advantages for exploring causal processes and analysing complex decision- making. Yet while the book presents a rigorous and compelling account of the process tracing method and its critical importance to case study research, the value of method itself remains contested in some quarters and there are aspects of George and Bennett’s treatment of it that require further exploration.
One version of this article was first published in PS: Political Science and Politics, Volume 40, No.4, 2007.
For recent critical discussions of the George and Bennett book, see the Qualitative Methods: Newsletter of the APSA Qualitative Methods Section, Vol.4, No.1, Spring 2006; and of process tracing specifically, see Checkel (2006).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aberbach, Joel D./ Putnam, Robert D./ Rockman, Bert A. (1981): Bureaucrats and Politicians in Western Democra-cies. Harvard.
Aberbach, Joel D./ Rockman, Bert A. (2000): In the Web of Politics: Three Decades of the U.S. Federal Executive. Washington, DC.
Aberbach, See Joel D./ Rockman, Bert A. (2002): Conducting and Coding Elite Interviews. In: PS: Political Science and Politics 35/4: 673–676.
Babbie, Earl (1995): The Practice of Social Research. Belmont.
Bennett, Andrew/ Elman, Colin (2006): Qualitative Research: Recent Developments in Case Study Methods. In: Annual Review of Political Science 9: 455–476.
Berry, Jeffrey M. (2002): Validity and Reliability Issues in Elite Interviewing. In: PS: Political Science and Politics 35/4: 679–682.
Biernacki, Patrick/ Waldord, Dan (1981): Snowball Sampling: Problems and Techniques of Chain Referral Sam-pling. In: Sociological Methods and Research 10/2: 141–163.
Brady, Henry E./ Collier, David (Hrsg.) (2005): Rethinking Social Inquiry: Diverse Tools, Shared Standards. Lanham /Boulder/New York.
Checkel, Jeffrey (2006): Tracing Causal Mechanisms. In: International Studies Review 8/2: 362–370.
Collier, David/ Brady, Henry E./ Seawright, Jason (2005): Critiques, Responses and Trade-Offs. In: Brady, Henry E./ Collier, David (Hrsg.): 195–227.
Collier, David/ Brady, Henry E./ Seawright, Jason (2005): Sources Of Leverage In Causal Inference: Toward an Alternative View of Methodology. In: Brady, Henry E./ Collier, David (Hrsg.): 229–266.
Davies, Philip H. J. (2001): Spies as Informants: Triangulation and the Interpretation of Elite Interview Data in the Study of the Intelligence and Security Services. In: Politics 21/1: 73–80(8).
Denitch, Bogdan (1972): Elite Interviewing and Social Structure: An Example from Yugoslavia. In: Public Opinion Quarterly 36: 143–58.
Dexter, Lewis Anthony (1970): Elite and Specialized Interviewing. Colchester, Essex.
Epstein, Lee/ King, Gary (2002): The Rules of Inference. In: The University of Chicago Law Review 69/1: 1–133.
Falkowski, Lawrence S. (Hrsg.) (1979): Psychological Models in International Politics. Boulder.
Farquharson, Karen (2005): A Different Kind of Snowball: Identifying Key Policymakers. In: International Journal of Social Research Methodology 8/4: 345–353(9).
George, Alexander L. (1979): The Causal Nexus Between Cognitive Beliefs and Decision-Making Behavior: The’ Operational Code’ Belief System. In: Falkowski, Lawrence S. (Hrsg.): 95–124.
George, Alexander L./ McKeown, Timothy J. (1985): Case Studies and Theories of Organizational Decision Mak-ing. In: Advances in Information Processing in Organizations 2: 21–58.
George, Alexander L./ Bennett, Andrew (2005): Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences. Cambridge.
Goldstein, Kenneth (2002): Getting in the Door: Sampling and Completing Elite Interviews. In: PS: Political Science and Politics 35/4: 669–672.
Hammer, Dean/ Wildavsky, Aaron (1989): The Open-Ended, Semi-Structured Interview: An (Almost) Operational Guide’ In Wildavsky, Aaron (Hrsg.): 57–101.
Henry, Gary T. (1990): Practical Sampling. London.
Kidder, Louise H./ Judd, Charles M./ Smith, Eliot R. (1991): Research Methods in Social Relations. London.
Kramer, Mark (1990): Remembering the Cuban Missile Crisis: Should We Swallow Oral History? In: Interna-tional Security 15/1:212–218.
Mahoney, James (2000): Strategies of Causal Inference in Small-N Analysis. In: Sociological Methods and Research 28/4: 387–424.
Mahoney, James/ Goertz, Gary (2006): A Tale of Two Cultures: Contrasting Quantitative and Qualitative Research. In: Political Analysis 14/3: 227–249.
Odell, John S. (2006): A Major Milestone with One Major Limitation. A Comment on George and Bennett 2006. In: Qualitative Methods: 37–40.
Rivera, Sharon Werning/ Kozyreva, Polina M./ Sarovskii, Eduard G. (2002): Interviewing Political Elites: Lessons from Russia. In: PS: Political Science and Politics 35/4: 683–688.
Seldon, Anthony/ Pappworth, Joanna (1983): By Word of Mouth: Elite Oral History. New York.
Wildavsky, Aaron (Hrsg.) (1989): Craftways: On the Organisation of Scholarly Work. New Brunswick.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften | GWV Fachverlage GmbH, Wiesbaden
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Tansey, O. (2009). Process Tracing and Elite Interviewing: A Case for Non-probability Sampling. In: Pickel, S., Pickel, G., Lauth, HJ., Jahn, D. (eds) Methoden der vergleichenden Politik- und Sozialwissenschaft. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-91826-6_24
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-91826-6_24
Publisher Name: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften
Print ISBN: 978-3-531-16194-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-531-91826-6
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Science (German Language)