WORKSHOP: Process Tracing, Counterfactual Analysis, and Active Citation

Syracuse University, Syracuse NY

Investigators

Abstract

With regards to intellectual merit, a large segment of the American International Relations sub-field approaches international security through its engagement with World War I. This case serves as the foundation for an extraordinary number of key debates, involving multiple research programs and levels of analysis. This project will demonstrate new approaches to qualitative and multi-method research, which promises more rigorous and replicable scholarship. Most of the key debates which use World War I predate Political Science's recent attention to Data Access and Research Tranparency (DA-RT). Two basic principles underlie the new movement: First, analytical transparency is a prerequisite for research to be considered scientifically credible and legitimate. Second, data becomes more useful when it is made available to others, either in the context of validating prior claims or to undertake new research. Hitherto DA-RT was regarded as the exclusive bailiwick of quantitative approaches. These principles have recently been extended to qualitative and multi-method research, through two related developments. First, the availability of better specificed accounts of both process tracking and counterfactual analysis allow scholars to be explicit about the analytical techniques they used. Second, new infrastructure has been created for the institutionalized sharing of qualititative data. In addition, new standards are being developed for active citations, hyperlinks to digitized primary data which are probative for the credibility of hypothesised causal pathways. This workshop will bring together experts from three relevant epistemic communities: scholars of World War I, qualitative methodologists with expertise in process tracing and counterfactual analysis, and qualitative data archivists working on new active citation practices. They will collectively develop a plan to access and link the original source documentation. With regards to broader impacts, the World War I project will be a highly visible demonstration of the efficacy of the Qualitative Data Repository. The project will vividly present the payoff from a synthesis of better specified analytical techniques, institutionalized data sharing, and new standards for research transparency. The substance of the project is likely to be of interest to all scholars of international security, as well as a broder scholarly community and the genderal public as the war's centenerary approaches.