Compare methods

	Typological Theory	Process Tracing
Field	Political Science	Psychometrics
Family	Process / pipeline	Latent structure
Year of origin	2005	2005
Originator	Alexander L. George & Andrew Bennett; Colin Elman	Alexander George, Andrew Bennett
Type	Configurational theory-building method for case studies	Qualitative causal inference
Seminal source	George, A. L., & Bennett, A. (2005). Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN: 9780262572224	Bennett, A., & Checkel, J. T. (Eds.). (2015). Process Tracing: From Metaphor to Analytic Tool. Cambridge University Press.
Aliases	Typological theorizing, Explanatory typologies, Typological theory building, Configurational typologies	—
Related	4	5
Summary	Typological theory is a configurational approach to theory building in which the researcher specifies types — distinct combinations of the values of explanatory variables — and develops contingent generalizations about the outcomes associated with each combination. Codified by Alexander George and Andrew Bennett and refined by Colin Elman's explanatory typologies, it organizes cases into the cells of a property space defined by the interaction of variables, using case studies to populate and refine the types. It embraces causal complexity by treating combinations, not isolated variables, as the units of explanation.	Process Tracing is a qualitative research method developed by George and Bennett (2005) for studying causal mechanisms and causal chains within individual cases. It involves examining the sequence of events and decision-making processes within a case to infer whether a hypothesized causal mechanism actually operated. Process tracing aims to strengthen causal inference in case studies by looking beyond correlation to understand how causes produce effects.