Systematic Process Analysis: when and how to use it

“Path-dependent models of the polity often specify an accumulation of interaction effects over time, creating so many divergent contextual effects in the cases that it becomes unreasonable to expect the same causal factor to produce similar effects in each of them (Mahoney, 2000a; Pierson, 2000).”

“…long-standing conventional wisdom about how social science advances.4 Under one rubric or another, it has been practiced to good effect, albeit with some variation, by many scholars, including Moore (1966), Skocpol (1979), Collier and Collier (1991), Rueschemeyer et al. (1992) and Moravcsik (1998).”

“As the familiar adage has it, research in social science is most likely to advance when it focuses on a 'three-cornered fight' among a theory, a rival theory, and a set of empirical observations (Lakatos, 1970).”

“…and how they are represented or debated in various arenas (public discourse and scholarly research for instance).24 To carry out such analysis, sociologists could borrow from political scientists who use macro- and meso-level ‘systematic process tracing’ as a method (as described in Hall, 2006).”

“…process tracing has been published and no end to this process is in sight (for example, George and Bennett 2005, Gerring 2007: Ch. 7, Bennett 2008, Hall 2008, 2013, Collier 2010, 2011, Mahoney 2010, 2012, Haverland and Blatter 2012, Mahoney and Goertz 2012: Ch. 8, Rohlfing 2012: Ch. 6, Waldner…”

“22 On case studies, see George and Bennett 2005; on process tracing see Hall 2006.”

“Since our argument that there are two (and not just one) alternatives to the co-variational approach is a “risky proposition”, which runs contrary to most attempts to scrutinize such an alternative (see for example Checkel 2005; Hall 2006; Schimmelfennig 2006), we add an extra subchapter on the differences between CPT…”

“Political scientists have proposed an approach consisting of systematically confronting explanatory powers of several theories to explain a same phenomenon (George and Bennett, 2005; Hall, 2006).”

“…case-study methodology is that it involves tracing causal mechanisms that link causes (X) with their effects (i.e. outcomes) (Y) (Checkel 2008, Hall 2008, Bennett 2008a, 2008b, Rohlfing 2012, Beach and Pedersen 2013; introduction to this special issue).1 We trace causal mechanisms whereby a…”

“Drawing on Hall (2006)'s method of systematic process analysis, we traced the process by which new constructions did or did not shape public and structural stigma.”

“Fortunately, many sources can give general and specific guidance in relation to most of these (e.g., Abbott, 1995; Jebb & Tay, 2017; Hall, 2006; Hassett & Paavilainen- Mäntymäki, 2013; Langley, 1999, 2009; Menard, 2002; Sminia, 2009).”

“Our empirical strategy rests on a variant of the process tracing methodology de fi ned as systematic process analysis (Hall, 2006).”

“…political science literature, such as ‘analytic narratives’ (Bates et al. 1998), ‘historical narratives’ (Büthe 2002) or ‘systematic process analysis’ (Hall 2003, 2006), which I have analyzed elsewhere (Falleti 2006), and more recently the process tracing of ‘causal process observations’…”

“10; Hall 2008; Rohlfing 2012:chap.”

“The further specifications of core dynamcs and mechanisms within phases allow for more differentiated h Policy 44 (2014) 67–82 81”

“…what Donald Campbell once called ‘portable truths’ (Campbell, 1975) – and, in order to secure such generalisations from one or two cases examined in depth, I believe we need to adopt the self-conscious approach to testing theories that I labelled ‘systematic process analysis’ in Hall (2003, 2006).”

“Applying a process-tracing approach (Hall 2008), for each initiative a structured case history has been drawn up.”

“More than on the quantitative side (even though it is not irrelevant there), drawing conclusions from qualitative research is ‘‘a matter of judgement’’ (Hall, 2008, p. 311).”

“aims of national regulators with respect to regulations with the actual results (congruence analysis) and to verify the motivations and dynamics in interviews via process tracing (Hall, 2006).”

“Critical adjudicationof rival hypotheses is important for fully assessingcausal claimsandguardingagainst confirmation bias (George and Bennett 2005; Hall 2006).”

“understanding of the empirical cases (Hall 2006; Yin 2014).”

“Process-tracing also allows for capturing the various interaction effects that one is likely to observe during blame games (Bennett and Elman 2006; Hall 2006).”

“The following section aims to help fill this research gap by employing the method of process tracing (Hall 2006) in three case studies of recent reforms (or reform attempts) in the German vocational training system.”

“…Hall (2006) we engage in systematic process tracing, which aims at ‘elucidating and testing a theory that identifies the main determinants of a broad class of outcomes and attaches special importance to specifying the mechanisms whereby those determinants bear on the outcome’ (Hall, 2006, p. 25).”

“Methodologically, we use a ‘systematic process analysis’—often called process-tracing— to test the hypothesized causal mechanism linking competitive pressures and union influence in policy-making against the rival ‘domestic politics’ explanations described above (Hall, 2006; Trampusch and Palier, 2016).”

“In addition, the market has become highly differentiated, and a range of different understandings of process tracing seems to exist (e.g. George and Bennett, 2004, chapter 10; Hall, 2006; Gerring, 2007, chapter 7; Mahoney, 2007).”

“Methodologically, the examination involves process-tracing; that is, specifying the ‘process whereby relevant variables have an effect’ within a case (Hall 2008: 23).”

“46 Hall 2008, 311.”

“…case analysis (Isett et al., 2011), and when coupled with a constant set of measures, and a systematic process applied within and across cases to highlight hidden connections, allows for causal inference to be produced as a viable alternative to conventional large-N analysis (Hall, 2006).”

“A ‘systematic process analysis’ (Hall 2008) was therefore conducted to ascertain the dynamics of policy formulation, the first step of which was to undertake a mapping exercise of participating actors and institutions.”

“As a theory-guided systematic process analysis, it derives hypotheses from the state-of-the-art literature and tests them against the empirical record (Falleti, 2006; Gerring, 2011; Hall, 2006).”

“Systematic comparison of processes within and across a small number of cases is a more powerful method of identifying causal mechanisms, and demonstrating internal validity (Hall 2008).”

“The idea that process tracing can involve the identification of events that are theoretically relevant to understanding how X leads to Y is basic to many methodological writings (George and Bennett 2005, Falleti 2006 and 2016, Bennett 2008, Hall 2008, Rolhfing 2014, Waldner 2015).”

“In this endeavour, it is crucial to consider the development over time through ‘systematic process analysis’ (Hall, 2007), since the bearing of societal variables on governmental preferences can vary in strength, change in direction, or change in character.”

“Research on this reorientation requires a dynamic perspective that allows scholars to explore the social processes through which labour strives to remake its world (Abbott, 2016; Hall, 2006; Stinchcombe, 1987).”

“The cases are analysed in two steps: first, the social processes around the two EIS are traced (Hall 2008) in a narrative style; and second, the three social mechanisms are evaluated.”

“Peter Hall (2003, 2008; See also Hanson and Kopstein 2005; W. Sewell 1996) has arguably been the most articulate in pleading for causal pluralism and selecting the notion of causality that is most appropriate for the phenomena being studied.”

“Obviously, such a perspective favours small-n research designs and ‘systematic process analysis’ (Hall 2006).”

“A ‘systematic process analysis’ (Hall 2008) was used to examine the politics of recent labour immigration policy reform in the UK.”

“Interviewing of key informants was chosen as the most appropriate data collection method to answer a research question that seeks to trace the process of change and unveil collective and individual actors’ roles and motives (Hall, 2006).”

“To do this, theory-driven process tracing was carried out [14] and this through the mobilisation of multiple research methods.”

“To do so, the basic steps outlined by Hall (2008) are followed and applied: 1.”

“This means this chapter will not follow the dominant regularity understanding of PT because I hold the assumptions of generalizability that underlay it to be too rigid (e.g., Beach and Pedersen 2019; Bennett and Checkel 2015; George and Bennett 2005; Goertz 2017; Hall 2006; Mahoney 2015).”

“This method allows showing the argument established in this article by examining the different steps (t1 and t2) on the empirical case (Hall 2008).”

“See, for example, (Bennett and Elman 2006; Hall 2006; Tsoukas 2009; Vogel and Henstra 2015).”

“The analyst is concerned with estimating the magnitude of the effect of each variable and the degree of confidence by which this effect can be assured ( Process tracing approach and qualitative research design Hall 2008).”

“This made us decide for applying process analysis (Hall, 2006), starting from observations, comparing them, and identifying the context-speci fi c mechanisms behind them.”

“Before the publication of Designing Social Inquiry (DSI) (1994), qualitative methods primarily centered on “ the comparative method ” (Collier 1993; Hall 2008: 308).”

“The hypothesis is tested in a systematic process analysis (Hall 2006), where the relative importance of globalization and Europeanization as explanations for the liberalization of the Danish telecommunications and electricity sectors is assessed.”

“In particular, if policy change occurs through processes that are path dependent or rooted in strategic interaction where statistical methods offer only limited causal claims, CPT can provide a rich account of how it happens (Checkel, 2006; Hall, 2006; Kay & Baker, 2015).”

“See the exchange between Zaks (2017, 2021, 2022) and Bennett, Fair fi eld, and Charman (Bennett, Charman, and Fair fi eld 2022; Fair fi eld and Charman 2017, 2022, Chapter 7).”