Method: Toolkits for the Interpretivist Approach

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.title[
# Method: Toolkits for the Interpretivist Approach
]
.subtitle[
## Public Policy Analysis: Perspectives and Methods (30700953)
]
.author[
### Yue HU
]

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## Overview

+ Process tracing
+ Interview
    + Focus group
+ Content analysis

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## Process Tracing

> A research method for tracing causal mechanisms using .red[detailed, within-case] empirical analysis of how a causal mechanism operated in real-world cases. (Beach & Pedersen 2019)

???

Crime board

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## Operating a Process Tracing

Goal : Theory testing

Hypothesis: Examining explanation rivalries

Operation:

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## Example: English Recognition in Singapore

Theoretical question:
- Language recognition

Empirical puzzle:
- English is an official language of Singapore, but only **21% of the population** spoke this language when the country was independent.

.pull-left[.center[<img src = "../teachingDemo/image/singaporeLang2.jpg" height = 200>]]

.pull-right[
Research Question:
- Why did English become an official language of Singapore?
]

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## Step 1: Identify Hypotheses

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H<sub>0</sub>: State (institutional) capacity

<img src = "images/process_singapore.jpg">
]

.pull-right[
H<sub>1</sub>: Prioritization of the education ministry

.center[<img src = "images/process_goh.jpg" height = 400>]
]
???

Goh Keng Swee (吴庆瑞): 财政部长、内政及国防部长、副总理, 奠定了新加坡教育的精英主义政策, 取得伦敦政经学院经济学博士学位。

The Goh Report identified and set out recommendations to address three shortcomings: high education wastage, low literacy, and ineffective bilingualism. English was taught to maximize proficiency

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## Step 2: Establish Time Line

???

1. The very second step right after determining the DV
1. Before the evidence collection

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## Step 3: Construct Causal Graph

.center[<img src="images/causalEnglish.jpg" height = 500 />]

???

Causal process of X &rarr; Y  
Used to identify relevant moments and actors that could affect the results.

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## Step 4: Identify Alternative Choice or Event
## Step 5: Identify Counterfactual Outcomes

Counterfactual 1: Weak State &rarr; language of the dominant population language.

Counterfactual 2: Leed did not assign Goh as the MOE &rarr; the status quo.

???

A reason that choices might make differences  
If there's no comparative cases, then conterfactual outcomes.

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## Step 6: Find Evidence for Primary Hypothesis<sup>&midast;</sup>

| .small[Necessity\\Sufficiency]| Yes             | No                |
|-----------------------|-----------------|-------------------|
| Yes                   | Double-Decisive | Smoking Gun       |
| No                    | Hoop (No alibi)            | Straw-in-the-Wind |

.footnote[
&midast; Evera, Stephen Van. 1997. *Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science*. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
]

???

1. Hoop test: no alibi, the accused in the state when murder happens? If not innocent, but passing does not mean being guilty.
1. Smoking-gun test: a smoking gun seen in a suspect's hand moments after a shooting is quite conclusive proof of guilt, but a suspect not seen with a smoking gun is not proven innocent.
1. Double-decisive test: hoop + smoking-gun, like a camera record
1. Straw-in-the-wind test: Richard Liu seemed friendly with the girl.

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## What Type of Evidence This IS?

???

对谁提供了什么证据

白手套，蝙蝠侠父亲是罪犯, smoking-gun

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## What Type of Evidence This IS?

???

Hoop

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## What Type of Evidence This IS?

???

Straw in the wind, 知乎有贴说女子与L某一路挽着回屋，中间没有强迫行为

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???

The primary hypothesis failed the hoop test: when recognition happened, the state was not a strong state

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## Interview

.center[<img src="images/interview.jpg" height = 300 />]

.center[.normal[A .red[strategic] communication (guiding and listening)]]

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### How a Interview Processes

???

Brexit: The Uncivil War

Benedict Cumberbatch as Dominic Cummings, main political strategist for Vote Leave,

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.pull-left[
### Outcomes: 
+ Open answers
+ Messy details
+ Contradictory points
]

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### Set-up
+ Safe environment
+ More listening, less talking
+ Design the interview strategy + pilots
]

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### Be Prepared...

<img src="images/dontLike.gif" height = 200 />
]

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## Focus Group

Procedure:

1. Size: 5--15 interviewees
1. Subjects read or watch something.
1. Researcher ask the questions.
1. Subjects express the feelings and opinions.

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### Pros:

1. Real-life environment
1. Flexibility
1. Low cost
]

.pull-right[
### Cons:

1. Non-privacy-protection
1. Who lead the talk?
1. No SUTVA
1. Selection interviewees
]

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## How Focus Group Works

???

Brexit: The Uncivil War

Rory Kinnear as Craig Oliver, the former Director of Politics and Communications for British prime minister David Cameron

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## Content/Discourse Analysis

.center[<img src="images/closeReading.jpg" height = 480 />]

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## Step 1: Content Sampling

* Terminology:
    + Content analysis: 100 and below
    + Text analysis: above 100 (usually above 1,000)
    + Unit of analysis?

--
    
* Sampling technique
    + Convenient sample
    + Stratification
    + Clustering

## Step 2: Coding

* Manifest content
* Latent content
* Online assistance: [CATMA](http://catma.de/) or eMargin

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## Example with CATMA

.center[<img src="images/tag.png" height = 500 />]

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.pull-left[<img src="images/topictrend.png" height = 500 />]

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## Step 3 Analysis

Not much different from other interpretive methods

1. Context
1. Transparency
1. Transferability

.pull-left[
### Pros

* Economic
* Allowing correction
* Overtime survey
* Third party
]

.pull-right[
### Cons

* Limited content
* Limited scale
* Subjective consistency
]

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## Take-Home Points

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