ISRF: Mechanisms as Elements of Explanatory Theory

Panel held at LSE on January 18th, 2016

Panelists are:
Peter Abell, LSE
Chrisanthi Avgerou, LSE
Ola Henfridsson, Warwick Business School
Chair: Florian Allwein, LSE

While research based on statistical methods easily constructs causal claims, much interpretive research is content with theory refinement. New approaches are needed that go beyond this to make sure interpretive research stays relevant in a world of Big Data.

Recently, explanatory research based on identifying social mechanisms has been suggested as a useful approach. Critical realism, while based on a different tradition, has similar goals in that it is trying to identify generative mechanisms. However, it is not always clear how to identify these generative mechanisms in practice.

In this panel, we would like to discuss these approaches with some of their leading exponents to see how they relate to each other
and to consider how mechanisms can help us to do good qualitative research.

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