Narrative Explanation: An Alternative to Variable-Centered Explanation?
Abstract
The nature of narrative explanations is explored as an alternative to the better established variable-centered explanations. Narratives are conceived as di-graphs where the nodes are states of the world and the arcs are actions (causes). Comparative narratives are understood as mappings between di-graphs. Ethnographic and historical explanations, where the number of cases is small and causality complex, may depend upon a narrative depiction.
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The simplest understanding of mechanisms in the literature is to see them merely as a series of events, or a narrative story leading to an outcome.
“The simplest understanding of mechanisms found in the literature is to see them merely as a series of events, or a narrative story leading to an outcome (e.g. Abell, 2004; Mahoney, 2012: 571; Roberts, 1996:16; Suganami, 1996: 164-168).”
From It's all about mechanisms – what process-tracing case studies should be tracing (2016) · cites this paper as Abell, 2004
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- Authors
- Abell, P.
- Affiliations
- London School of Economics and Political Science (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Abell, Peter
- Venue
- Annual Review of Sociology
- Publisher
- Annual Reviews
- Published
- 2004-08-01
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 287-310
- ISSN
- 0360-0572 (ISSN-L)
- 1545-2115
- OpenAlex
- W2120838114
- Cited by
- 264
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 17 · 2012: 11
- FWCI
- 6.75
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Annual Review of Sociology (publishedVersion)
- London School of Economics and Political Science Research Online (London School of Economics and Political Science) (acceptedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Qualitative Comparative Analysis Research
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Philosophy and History of Science
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Critical Realism in Sociology
- Keywords
- narrative explanation, comparative narrative, causal explanation, historical explanation, complex causality
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