ABSTRACT
Crafting and implementing processes that facilitate collective working has long been identified as a crucial element in the successful delivery of public sector networks and collaborative outcomes. Though important, processes are not easily conceptualized, and the process-outcome relationship is difficult to determine. This chapter presents process tracing as a potentially powerful research approach for identifying and describing process aspects, and details the steps to describe processes and uncover causal relationships. At the same time, the chapter outlines the considerable challenges that the study of causation presents, even for careful process tracing, and provides a suite of tools and resources.
