Prozessuales Erklären

Abstract

This article outlines a methodology of processual explanation. Amenable to a wide range of research objects as well as social theories, this methodology allows for generalized conclusions on a higher level of abstraction. We argue that a processual explanation of empirical cas es requires two modes of temporal reconstruction, basic and complex. Whereas basic reconstruction provides a de tailed description of sequences of events, complex recon struction captures interlacing and interfering sequences. Taken together, these sequences and their interlacements as well as interferences constitute the needed explanation of the phenomenon focused on. The methodology is based on two empirical case studies: (a) mass shootings and (b) the rise of the field of empirical educational research. In both cases, the temporal concept of the turningpoint is central to their processual explanation. The research agenda that follows from this article is the integration of further temporal concepts into this methodology.

Kausale Mechanismen und Process Tracing

“…Andrew Abbotts Soziologie ist in den letzten Jahren in Deutschland intensiv durch das Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung in Übersetzungen und eigenen Publikationen zu einer Prozesssoziologie bekannt gemacht worden. Soziologische Arbeiten zu Prozessen als soziologischer Kategorie und zum prozessualen Erklären waren dem zwar vorausgegangen (Schützeichel und Jordan 2015;Aljets und Hoebel 2017). Temporalität und Prozessualität derart ins Zentrum der Theoriebildung zu stellen, wie dies Thomas Hoebel und Wolfgang Knöbl im »Plädoyer für eine entdeckende Prozesssoziologie«, so der Untertitel ihrer 2019 vorgelegten Monografie, tun, ist jedoch neu.…”

Process‐Oriented Sampling

“…Likewise, historical sociology (Schützeichel 2004) and processual sociology (Abbott 2016) have extensively discussed the nature of social processes. However, as these debates focus on theorizing either the nature of social processes or the theoretical implications of social processes, they generally lack discussing methodological implications of taking temporality and processuality of social life seriously (Abbott 2001; Aljets and Hoebel 2017; Baur 2005; Kaven 2018:2). The rare discussions on process‐oriented methodology either focus on data collection (e.g., Baur 2009a, 2009b) or data analysis (for an overview, see Baur 2005).…”

“…The rare discussions on process‐oriented methodology either focus on data collection (e.g., Baur 2009a, 2009b) or data analysis (for an overview, see Baur 2005). So all in all, there is a general lack of guiding principles for time‐sensitive sampling, which both accounts for the characteristics of processes and allows for generalizability of results (Aljets and Hoebel 2017; Baur 2017).…”