Process Tracing in Public Administration: The Implications of Practitioner Insights for Methods of Inquiry

The field of public administration is often seen as a late adopter of cutting-edge research methods. Related disciplines like political science use more advanced research methods for single or small-n case studies including techniques like process tracing. Many elements of process tracing are analog...

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Published inInternational journal of public administration Vol. 40; no. 5; pp. 434 - 442
Main Authors Charbonneau, Étienne, Henderson, Alexander C., Ladouceur, Benoit, Pichet, Philippe
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York Routledge 16.04.2017
Marcel Dekker, Inc
Subjects
Academic-practitioners gap
Bureaucracy
Case studies
causal mechanisms
Intelligence
methodology
Police
Police inspectors
Political science
Political scientists
process tracing
Public administration
Research methodology
Research methods
single case study
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Abstract The field of public administration is often seen as a late adopter of cutting-edge research methods. Related disciplines like political science use more advanced research methods for single or small-n case studies including techniques like process tracing. Many elements of process tracing are analogous to investigations. To inform process tracing practices, political scientists looked at Sherlock Holmes novels. We draw on the experiences of a police inspector and a former soldier who worked with intelligence to offer insights on the implementation of process tracing, bridge the academic-practitioner gap, and increase the methodological rigor in public administration research.
AbstractList The field of public administration is often seen as a late adopter of cutting-edge research methods. Related disciplines like political science use more advanced research methods for single or small-n case studies including techniques like process tracing. Many elements of process tracing are analogous to investigations. To inform process tracing practices, political scientists looked at Sherlock Holmes novels. We draw on the experiences of a police inspector and a former soldier who worked with intelligence to offer insights on the implementation of process tracing, bridge the academic-practitioner gap, and increase the methodological rigor in public administration research.
The field of public administration is often seen as a late adopter of cutting-edge research methods. Related disciplines like political science use more advanced research methods for single or small-n case studies including techniques like process tracing. Many elements of process tracing are analogous to investigations. To inform process tracing practices, political scientists looked at Sherlock Holmes novels. We draw on the experiences of a police inspector and a former soldier who worked with intelligence to offer insights on the implementation of process tracing, bridge the academic-practitioner gap, and increase the methodological rigor in public administration research. Reprinted by permission of Taylor & Francis
Author Charbonneau, Étienne
Henderson, Alexander C.
Ladouceur, Benoit
Pichet, Philippe
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SubjectTerms Academic-practitioners gap
Bureaucracy
Case studies
causal mechanisms
Intelligence
methodology
Police
Police inspectors
Political science
Political scientists
process tracing
Public administration
Research methodology
Research methods
single case study
Title Process Tracing in Public Administration: The Implications of Practitioner Insights for Methods of Inquiry
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