The Cost of Software

Students often have an inaccurate view of actual software prices because of generous "student pricing" options for statistics software.  I think it is irresponsible to train a generation of students on software that will cost offices thousands per license when there are less expensive options available.  After the break, there is a link to another blog comparing prices of some popular software packages.

Another listing for multiple faculty hires in homeland security (Saint. Louis University)

Saint Louis University (SLU), a Catholic, Jesuit institution dedicated to education, research, service, and healthcare, invites applications for 2 tenure-track faculty positions for Assistant or Associate Professor, in the Department of Health Management and Policy, for its expanding programs in Emergency Management and Crisis Leadership at the School of Public Health. The School of Public Health is the only accredited school of public health in a Jesuit, Catholic university in the U.S., and is committed to social justice, excellence in education, community engagement, and research that leads to improved health. Applicants must have a doctoral degree with advanced education in emergency management and leadership development, as well as, a background in health management, public health, health/public policy, homeland security, emergency preparedness, or related fields. Applicants should have a productive research record and demonstrated ability to secure external research funding. Primary responsibilities will include conducting independent research related to areas such as emergency management and policy development, crisis leadership, systems thinking, complex and adaptive systems, decision science, social network analysis, resilience and continuity modeling and community capacity development. Other responsibilities include teaching graduate and/or undergraduate courses in emergency management and crisis leadership and other areas of teaching such as health management, policy development and public health sciences, and providing professional and community service.

The SLU School of Public Health is nationally recognized for its community based research. Successful candidates will find opportunities for collaboration within the School and with university and community partners. The Department of Health Management offers a Master of Public Health in Emergency Management and Crisis Leadership and a Bachelor Degree in Emergency Management. It also offers one of the top-ranked Master of Health Administration Programs in the nation, a Master of Public Health in Health Policy, and an undergraduate degree in health management. In addition, the School offers dual degrees with several units in the University, including the School of Law, known for its top-ranked health law program.

Inquires may contact the Search Chair by phone (314-977-8162) or send an email including a copy of their curriculum vitae to:

Kate Wright, Associate Professor and
Chair, HMP-EMCL Search Committee
Saint Louis University School of Public Health
3545 Lafayette Avenue, Room 377
Saint Louis, MO 63104
wrightks@SLU.EDU

Saint Louis University is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity Employer,
and encourages nominations and applications of women and minorities.

Process Tracing vs. "process tracing"

I would like to take a moment to clear up what seems to be a common confusion in qualitative research.  The past decade or so has seen an explosion in qualitative research -- and particularly research associated with the Process Tracing techniques championed by George, Bennett, and others.  I would like to take a moment to explain the (considerable) merits of Process Tracing and to distinguish it from "process tracing."

Process Tracing involves the elaboration of a casual mechanism from a theory to identify various points where a theory can be potentially falsified.  Each step in the causal process provides an opportunity for falsification.  Typically, Process Tracing then involves the historical investigation of very specific points in time that can serve to test the original theory.

Notice that Process Tracing requires a strong, detailed theory.  Most of all, you must have a theory that makes detailed predictions about casual processes. You have to set out the specific potentially falsifying moments in the sequence of causal mechanisms as well as the potential evidence for falsification.  Such evidence may be textual accounts of behavior -- the actual type of data is less central to the Process Tracing technique than the elaboration of a causal mechanism.

In the end, your Process Tracing strategy must say "the theory would predict X to happen at historical moment T -- evidence that Y happened instead would constitute contrary evidence."  Of course, not every falsification would necessitate throwing out the entire theory.  However, the theory and the historical test need to be clear enough to draw the theory into question if Y happened instead of (theory predicted) X.

Unfortunately, this powerful tool of investigation has been competing for attention with a seemingly recent innovation -- "process tracing."  As you can tell, one inconvenience is that this new competitor uses the name of Process Tracing and seeks to borrow its legitimacy as a research strategy.  However "process tracing"  seems to be a different beast entirely.  "process tracing" involves maybe (maybe not) presenting the name of a theory and then providing a chronological account of events that occasionally mention terms similar to the name of the theory.  There are no specific predictions to potentially falsify the theory.  Often specific events fade into the background as general themes dominate attention.  "process tracing" is not a theory testing exercise but (at best) a theory motivated narrative of events.

Please do not confuse Process Tracing with "process tracing."

Next up -- replication and reproducibility of public management research...