A Methodological Outlook on Causal Identification and Empirical Methods for the Analysis of Social Mechanism
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Dominik Becker
Abstract
The debate on empirical tests of social mechanisms suffers from a fragmented view on the relative benefit of the empirical method a researcher considers to be superior, compared to the flaws of all other methods. In this outlook. I argue that disciplinary barriers might be surmounted by a common methodological perspective on the analysis of social mechanisms. First, experimental, quantitative, qualitative, and simulation methods (agent-based modeling) are all required, but also capable to deal with the issue of causal identification, respectively. Second, having established causal identification (among which I subsume strategies to deal with causal heterogeneity). each method disposes of genuine techniques to deal with the most crucial property of mechanism-based explanations: input-mechanism-output (IMO) relations.
© 2016 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelei
- Contents
- Explaining and Understanding by Answering ‘Why’ and ‘How’ Questions: A Programmatic Introduction to the Special Issue Social Mechanisms
- Part I. Explanatory and Analytical: Understanding the Contexts, Core, and Collective Outcomes of Action
- Social Mechanisms as Special Cases of Explanatory Sociology: Notes toward Systemizing and Expanding Mechanism-based Explanation within Sociology
- Social Mechanisms of Corruption: Analytical Sociology and Its Applicability to Corruption Research
- Neighbourhood Effects: Lost in Transition?
- Part II. Bridging the Gap with Quantitative Survey Research
- Social Mechanisms in Norm-relevant Situations: Explanations for Theft by Finding in High-cost, and Low-cost Situation
- Social Mechanisms and Empirical Research in the Field of Sociology of the Family: The Case of Separation and Divorce
- Contextualizing Cognitive Consonance by a Social Mechanisms Explanation: Moderators of Selective Exposure in Media Usage
- Part III. Experiments, Agent-Based Modeling, and Mixed Methods
- The Use of Field Experiments to Study Mechanisms of Discrimination
- Rational Laziness - When Time Is Limited, Supply Abundant, and Decisions Have to Be Made
- How the Mechanism of Dynamic Representation Affects Policy Change and Stability
- Opening the Black Box. How the Study of Social Mechanisms Can Benefit from the Use of Explanatory Mixed Methods
- A Methodological Outlook on Causal Identification and Empirical Methods for the Analysis of Social Mechanism
- Authors
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelei
- Contents
- Explaining and Understanding by Answering ‘Why’ and ‘How’ Questions: A Programmatic Introduction to the Special Issue Social Mechanisms
- Part I. Explanatory and Analytical: Understanding the Contexts, Core, and Collective Outcomes of Action
- Social Mechanisms as Special Cases of Explanatory Sociology: Notes toward Systemizing and Expanding Mechanism-based Explanation within Sociology
- Social Mechanisms of Corruption: Analytical Sociology and Its Applicability to Corruption Research
- Neighbourhood Effects: Lost in Transition?
- Part II. Bridging the Gap with Quantitative Survey Research
- Social Mechanisms in Norm-relevant Situations: Explanations for Theft by Finding in High-cost, and Low-cost Situation
- Social Mechanisms and Empirical Research in the Field of Sociology of the Family: The Case of Separation and Divorce
- Contextualizing Cognitive Consonance by a Social Mechanisms Explanation: Moderators of Selective Exposure in Media Usage
- Part III. Experiments, Agent-Based Modeling, and Mixed Methods
- The Use of Field Experiments to Study Mechanisms of Discrimination
- Rational Laziness - When Time Is Limited, Supply Abundant, and Decisions Have to Be Made
- How the Mechanism of Dynamic Representation Affects Policy Change and Stability
- Opening the Black Box. How the Study of Social Mechanisms Can Benefit from the Use of Explanatory Mixed Methods
- A Methodological Outlook on Causal Identification and Empirical Methods for the Analysis of Social Mechanism
- Authors
