ABSTRACT
The chapter introduces the research methods used in the study. By using multi-method research design, the book addresses the common criticism that role theory is conceptually rich but lacks methodological refinement (Walker, 1987). Data on national role conceptions (NRCs) was collected by content analysing statements made by Russian decision-makers: president, prime minister, foreign minister, and Putin’s close advisers. The chapter includes the codebook, which contains instructions for the coding procedures that were used for coding of statements made by the Russian leadership and oppositionists. To connect roles to foreign policy behaviour the study uses a process tracing method which attempts to trace the intervening causal mechanisms between different variables and enables researchers to analyse whether the variable of interest was causally linked to any change in outcome.
