IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/jinsec/v16y2020i4p409-422_1.html

Qualitative research methods for institutional analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Skarbek, David

Abstract

How can economists use qualitative evidence – such as archival materials, interviews, and ethnography – to study institutions? While applied economists typically rely on quantitative evidence and statistical estimation, many important aspects of institutions and institutional change appear in the form of qualitative evidence. This raises the question if, and how, social scientists trained in quantitative methods can exploit and analyze this evidence. This paper discusses two qualitative research methods that are both commonly used outside of economics: comparative case studies and process tracing. Drawing on existing research about crime and political revolutions, it discusses these two methods and how to implement them to improve institutional analysis.

Suggested Citation

  • Skarbek, David, 2020. "Qualitative research methods for institutional analysis," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(4), pages 409-422, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jinsec:v:16:y:2020:i:4:p:409-422_1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S174413741900078X/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Greif,Avner, 2006. "Institutions and the Path to the Modern Economy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521480444, January.
    2. Derek Beach, 2016. "It's all about mechanisms – what process-tracing case studies should be tracing," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(5), pages 463-472, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mykola Bunyk & Leonid Krasnozhon, 2023. "State capacity and the socialist calculation debate," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 89(3), pages 694-707, January.
    2. Justin Callais & Kerianne Lawson, 2024. "Underperforming reformers: Examining disappointing cases of economic reforms," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 77(3), pages 593-615, August.
    3. Daniel J. Smith, 2023. "Austrian economics as a relevant research program," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 36(4), pages 501-514, December.
    4. Cheang, Bryan & Lim, Hanniel, 2023. "Institutional diversity and state-led development: Singapore as a unique variety of capitalism," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 182-192.
    5. Daniel D. Bonneau & Joshua C. Hall, 2020. "Economic Activity, International Intervention, and Transitional Governance: A Comparative Case Study of Somalia," Working Papers 20-01, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    6. Daniel D. Bonneau & Joshua C. Hall & Yang Zhou, 2022. "Institutional implant and economic stagnation: a counterfactual study of Somalia," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 190(3), pages 483-503, March.
    7. Ménard, Claude & Kurdin, Alexander & Shastitko, Andrey, 2020. "Out by the door, in through the window: Politics and natural gas regulation in Russia," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    8. Kaitlyn Woltz, 2022. "David Skarbek, The Puzzle of Prison Order: Why Life Behind Bars Varies Around the World," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 35(1), pages 135-141, March.
    9. Gao, Fugang & Ma, Xianlei & van der Krabben, Erwin & Ploegmakers, Huub & Shi, Xiaoping, 2022. "Causes of industrial land-use regulations in China: A share tenancy perspective," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    10. Gabriel F. Benzecry & Daniel J. Smith, 2024. "The wisdom of classical political economy in economics: incorporated or lost?," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 37(2), pages 133-152, June.
    11. David Skarbek, 2024. "The political economy of criminal governance," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 200(1), pages 1-24, July.
    12. Lin, Wanlin & Wang, Peng & Yuan, Minjun, 2023. "Governing the knowledge commons: Hybrid relational–contractual governance in china’s mining industry," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    13. Claude Menard & Gaetano Martino & Gustavo Magalhães Oliveira & Annie Royer & Paula Sarita Bigio Schnaider & Maria Sylvia Macchione Saes, 2024. "How is food safety regulation implemented? The key role of meso-institutions assessed through a cross-country comparison," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 16(4), pages 1045-1058, August.
    14. Ilia Murtazashvili & Veeshan Rayamajhee & Keith Taylor, 2023. "The Tragedy of the Nurdles: Governing Global Externalities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-15, April.
    15. Edward Peter Stringham, 2023. "Banking regulation got you down? The rise of fintech and cryptointermediation in Africa," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 197(3), pages 455-470, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gordon L Clark & Ashby H B Monk, 2014. "The Geography of Investment Management Contracts: The UK, Europe, and the Global Financial Services Industry," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 46(3), pages 531-549, March.
    2. Robert Roßner & Dimitrios Zikos, 2018. "The Role of Homogeneity and Heterogeneity Among Resource Users on Water Governance: Lessons Learnt from an Economic Field Experiment on Irrigation in Uzbekistan," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 4(03), pages 1-30, July.
    3. Fredy Cepeda-Lopez & Fredy Gamboa-Estrada & Carlos Leon-Rinc�n & Hern�n Rincon-Castro, 2022. "Colombian Liberalization and Integration into World Trade Markets: Much Ado about Nothing," Revista de Economía del Rosario, Universidad del Rosario, vol. 25(2), pages 1-44.
    4. Louis Corriveau, 2012. "Game theory and the kula," Rationality and Society, , vol. 24(1), pages 106-128, February.
    5. Mayshar, Joram & Moav, Omer & Neeman, Zvika, 2011. "Transparency, Appropriability and the Early State," CEPR Discussion Papers 8548, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Fenske, James, 2014. "Trees, tenure and conflict: Rubber in colonial Benin," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 226-238.
    7. Johnson, Noel D. & Koyama, Mark, 2017. "Jewish communities and city growth in preindustrial Europe," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 339-354.
    8. Mika Kallioinen, 2017. "Inter‐communal institutions in medieval trade," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 70(4), pages 1131-1152, November.
    9. van Zanden, Jan Luiten & Buringh, Eltjo & Bosker, Maarten, 2008. "From Baghdad to London: The Dynamics of Urban Growth in Europe and the Arab World, 800-1800," CEPR Discussion Papers 6833, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Sanchez-Pages Santiago & Straub Stéphane, 2010. "The Emergence of Institutions," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-38, September.
    11. Cason, Timothy N. & Mui, Vai-Lam, 2015. "Rich communication, social motivations, and coordinated resistance against divide-and-conquer: A laboratory investigation," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 146-159.
    12. Machiko Nissanke, 2015. "A Quest for Institutional Foundations Towards Inclusive Development in Sub-Saharan Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2015-049, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    13. Bohdan Kukharskyy & Michael Pflüger, 2011. "Relational Contracts and the Economic Well-Being of Nations," Working Papers 095, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).
    14. Robert Boyer, 2007. "Growth strategies and poverty reduction: the institutional complementarity hypothesis," Working Papers halshs-00587703, HAL.
    15. Ilia Murtazashvili & Jennifer Murtazashvili, 2015. "Anarchy, self-governance, and legal titling," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 287-305, March.
    16. Annette M. Kim, 2011. "Introduction: Real Rights to the City—Cases of Property Rights Changes towards Equity in Eastern Asia," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 48(3), pages 459-469, February.
    17. Masahiko Aoki, 2013. "Institutions as cognitive media between strategic interactions and individual beliefs," Chapters, in: Comparative Institutional Analysis, chapter 17, pages 298-312, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    18. Möllering, Guido, 2009. "Market constitution analysis: A new framework applied to solar power technology markets," MPIfG Working Paper 09/7, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    19. Fabian Wahl, 2014. "Origins of Political Change Ñ The Case of Late Medieval Guild Revolts," Working Papers 0069, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    20. Paul L. Robertson, 2006. "Transaction Costs, Trust, and the Structuring of Markets," Discussion Papers Series 342, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:jinsec:v:16:y:2020:i:4:p:409-422_1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/joi .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.