Interpretive Process Tracing & Practice Tracing (QMMR C)
Jeffrey T. Checkel and Vincent Pouliot
Half Day, 1:30 PM – 5:30 PM
Los Angeles Convention Center, 406B
This short course outlines the logic and best practices of interpretive process tracing / practice tracing, providing students with advice and examples to enable them to use this method in their work. The course does not require any prior background in interpretive epistemology or training in interpretive analysis, and is designed to complement the APSA short course led by Andy Bennett, Jeff Checkel, and Tasha Fairfield.
We begin, meta-theoretically and conceptually, by building on the practice turn in sociology and political science. Epistemologically, practice tracing combines continental interpretism with American pragmatism. Ontologically, practice tracing is built on a relational understanding of the social world, which places the analytic focus squarely on process. Proceeding from these meta-theoretical priors, process is now understood as social practices or ways of doing things. We consider various instances of such practices, with examples ranging from the politics of international organizations to the dynamics of identity construction.
The core of the course then examines how we can empirically measure and access social practices, using the data to conduct practice tracing. We start with ethnography and political ethnography, viewed by many as the ‘gold standard’ for accessing social practices. However, we also consider interpretive interviews and document analysis as additional methods to measure practices. In all cases, we consider the practical, data quality and ethical challenges of doing the practice tracing; this sets the stage for articulating an emerging set of best practices for interpretive process tracing.
We conclude this part of the course by sketching the cutting-edge challenges for practice tracers: (1) expanding and perhaps re-thinking their toolkit for accessing social practices; and (2) adding ethical reflexivity to how we go about practice tracing.
The course’s final hour is devoted to small-group breakout sessions, where participants workshop how they plan to use interpretive process tracing / practice tracing in their research. Are there meta-theoretical, data access, data collection, data analysis or ethical issues with which they are grappling? Instructors and fellow students will offer constructive advice on how best to address such challenges.