ABSTRACT
What do we mean when we say “coherence”, and what are we looking for in our data when we search for it? This chapter takes coherence as a broadly-defined umbrella term for a class of covariation phenomena and puts forward some descriptive scaffolding to organize the study of these phenomena. Specifically, we argue that coherence research should specify the unit and scope (together, the scale) of analysis. We discuss how coherence can dissociate across scales of different social and temporal granularity. Finally, we sketch some connections between questions of how coherence aligns (or not) across scales and the theoretical implications that can be drawn from coherence evidence.
