Considerations and Recommendations for the Gathering and Analyses of Data

Abstract

The choice of methods for the collection and analyses of data is guided by the analytical approach of Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA), the state of the literature on the politics of caveats, and influenced by caveats be regarded as sensitive information. Research collaboration with military colleges and military scholars is likely to benefit not only the gathering of data but also the interpretation of the empirical material. For theory developing purposes, inductive use of plausibility probing, deviating and “practice”-tracing single case-designs are likely to give epistemological traction. For theory testing, Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) in combination with structured, focused comparison and single-case process tracing designs are promising routes to knowledge in a nascent field of research such as the politics of caveats.