Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences - Alexander L. George [0]
Praise
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Preface
Part I - Case Studies and Social Science
Chapter 1 - Case Studies and Theory Development
Advances in Case Study Methods
Advantages and Limitations of Case Studies: Casting Off the Prism of …
Strengths of Case Study Methods
Trade-offs, Limitations, and Potential Pitfalls of Case Studies
Opportunities for Multi-Method Collaborative Research
Organization of the Book
Chapter 2 - Case Study Methods and Research on the Interdemocratic Peace
The First Generation: Contributions of Statistical Methods
The Second Generation: Case Study Contributions
Examples of Case Study Research Design in the Interdemocratic Peace Literature
Critiques and Challenges of Case Study Methods as Applied to the Democratic Peace
The Third Generation: Formal Modeling Contributions
Methodological Suggestions for Future Research on the Interdemocratic Peace
Part II - How to Do Case Studies
Chapter 3 - The Method of Structured, Focused Comparison
Chapter 4 - Phase One: Designing Case Study Research
Task One: Specification of the Problem and Research Objective
Task Two: Developing a Research Strategy: Specification of Variables
Task Three: Case Selection
Task Four: Describing the Variance in Variables
Task Five: Formulation of Data Requirements and General Questions
Integration of the Five Design Tasks
Chapter 5 - Phase Two: Carrying Out the Case Studies
The Provisional Character of Case Explanations
The Problem of Competing Explanations
Transforming Descriptive Explanations Into Analytical Explanations
Some Challenges in Attempting to Reconstruct Decisions
The Risk of Over-Intellectualizing the Policy Process
Assessing the Evidentiary Value of Archival Materials
Problems in Evaluating Case Studies
Conclusion
Chapter 6 - Phase Three: Drawing the Implications of Case Findings for Theory
Theory Development
Theory Testing
Conclusion
Part III - Alternative Methods and Select Issues
Chapter 7 - Case Studies and the Philosophy of Science
How Does the Philosophy of the Social Sciences Differ From That of the Physical Sciences?
Theoretical Explanation: From the Deductive-Nomological Model to Causal Mechanisms
Causal Mechanisms, Contexts, and Complexity
Causal Mechanisms, Process-Tracing, and Historical Explanation
Conclusion
Chapter 8 - Comparative Methods: Controlled Comparison and Within-Case Analysis
Mill’s Methods: Their Uses and Limitations
The Implications of Equifinality for Theory Building
Extensions and Adaptations to Mill’s Methods
An Alternative Proposed by King, Keohane, and Verba
Within-Case Methods of Causal Inference: The Congruence and Process-Tracing Approaches
Chapter 9 - The Congruence Method
Spuriousness, Causal Priority, and Causal Depth
How Plausible is the Claim of Congruity?
Is the Independent Variable a Necessary Condition for the Outcome of the …
Use of the Congruence Method to Assess the Causal Role of Beliefs in Decision-Making
Use of the Congruence Method in Studies of Deductive Theories that “Black Box” …
Congruence and Structural-Realist Theory
Chapter 10 - Process-Tracing and Historical Explanation
Varieties of Process-Tracing
Forms of Causal Processes
Uses of Process-Tracing
Assessing Predictions
Assessing Alternative Hypothesized Processes
The Limits of Process-Tracing
Summary on Process-Tracing
Process-Tracing and Historical Explanation: Similarities and Differences
Chapter 11 - Integrating Comparative and Within-Case Analysis: Typological Theory
What Is Typological Theory?
From Typologies to Typological Theories
Inductive and Deductive Means of Developing Typological Theories
Reducing the Property Space
From Property Space to Research Design
Integrating Typological Theorizing and Process-Tracing
An Extended Example: Burden Sharing in Contemporary Security Coalitions
Limitations of Typological Theory and Potential Remedies