Finding Pathways

Nicholas Weller is Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Southern California. Jeb Barnes is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Southern California.

• 1. Pathway analysis and the elusive search for causal mechanisms; 2. Preparing for pathway analysis; 3. Case selection for pathway analysis; 4. Comparison of case selection approaches; 5. Regression-based case selection for pathway analysis of non-linear relationships; 6. Matching to select cases for pathway analysis; 7. Using large-N methods to gain perspective on prior case studies; 8. Pathway analysis and future studies of mechanisms; 9. Conclusion.

'Finding Pathways makes an important contribution to the growing methodological literature on the identification of causal mechanisms. Weller and Barnes provide researchers with a powerful set of tools to investigate causal processes by showing how the logic of causal mediation analysis can bridge quantitative and qualitative research.' Kosuke Imai, Princeton University, New Jersey