Working Together: Collective Action, the Commons, and Multiple Methods in Practice

by Amy Poteete, Marco A. Janssen, Elinor Ostrom

Overview

Advances in the social sciences have emerged through a variety of research methods: field-based research, laboratory and field experiments, and agent-based models. However, which research method or approach is best suited to a particular inquiry is frequently debated and discussed. Working Together examines how different methods have promoted various theoretical developments related to collective action and the commons, and demonstrates the importance of cross-fertilization involving multimethod research across traditional boundaries. The authors look at why cross-fertilization is difficult to achieve, and they show ways to overcome these challenges through collaboration.


The authors provide numerous examples of collaborative, multimethod research related to collective action and the commons. They examine the pros and cons of case studies, meta-analyses, large-N field research, experiments and modeling, and empirically grounded agent-based models, and they consider how these methods contribute to research on collective action for the management of natural resources. Using their findings, the authors outline a revised theory of collective action that includes three elements: individual decision making, microsituational conditions, and features of the broader social-ecological context.


Acknowledging the academic incentives that influence and constrain how research is conducted, Working Together reworks the theory of collective action and offers practical solutions for researchers and students across a spectrum of disciplines.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691146041
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	05/02/2010
Pages:	376
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Amy R. Poteete is assistant professor of political science at Concordia University in Montreal. Marco A. Janssen is assistant professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University. Elinor Ostrom is professor at Indiana University, Bloomington, and Arizona State University, Tempe, and the cowinner of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations xiii

List of Tables xv

Acknowledgments xvii

Prologue xxi

Part 1 Introduction

Chapter 1 Overcoming Methodological Challenges 3

Social Science Debates over the Superiority of Particular Methods 7

Multiple Methods: Promises and Challenges 11

Practical Challenges and Methodological Trade-Offs 14

Technological Development and the Costs of Border Crossing 15

Availability and Accessibility of Data 17

Career Incentives as Methodological Constraints 18

Training 19

Career Incentives and Specialization 20

Our Substantive Focus 21

Interactions between Theory and Methods 23

Multiple Methods and Collaborative Research 23

Practical Constraints on Methodological Choices 23

Career Incentives and Methodological Practice 24

Outline of the Book 24

Part 2 Field Methods

Chapter 2 Small-N Case Studies: Putting the Commons under a Magnifying Glass 31

The Conventional Theory of the Commons 31

The Case Study Method 33

Cases, Case Studies, and Case Study Research 33

Analytical Strengths and Weaknesses 34

Practical Considerations 37

Synthesizing Challenges and Coordinating New Research Efforts 39

Contributions to the Study of the Commons 45

Property Rights and Tenure Security 45

Group Characteristics 52

Resource Characteristics 57

Case Studies as a Foundation 60

Chapter 3 Broadly Comparative Field-Based Research 64

Methodological Practices over Fifteen Years of Research 65

Defining the Units of Analysis 66

Trading Geographic Scope for Numbers? 68

Theoretical Aspirations and Methodological Practices 74

Practical Challenges to Broadly Comparative Field-Based Research 74

Costs of Data Collection 75

Research Design and Sampling 76

The Implications of Data Scarcity and Costliness 78

Meta-Analysis: An Introduction 78

Weighing the Benefits and Costs of Meta-Analysis 81

Coding Strategies and Missing Data 81

Potential Sources of Sample Bias 83

The Choice of Methodological Strategy: Weighing Costs against Control 86

Chapter 4 Meta-Analysis: Getting the Big Picture through Synthesis 89

Meta-Analysis: A Recapitulation 89

The Common-Pool Resource (CPR) Research Program 90

Defining Variables 92

Compensating for Gaps in Case Materials 93

Contributions 94

Overall Assessment 101

NIIS: A Hybrid Approach 102

Adaptation of the CPR Protocols 103

Measurement and Sampling 104

Contributions 105

Overall Assessment 107

Other Synthetic Studies 107

Additional Examples of Meta-Analysis 108

An Example of Narrative Synthesis 111

Progress and Continuing Challenges 113

Chapter 5 Collaborative Field Studies 115

Collaboration in Field-Based Research, 1990–2004 116

Two Research Partnerships 118

Community-Based Management of Common-Pool Resources in Tanzania 118

Traditional Management of Artisanal Fisheries in Nigeria 120

Thoughts about Research Partnerships 124

CGIAR: A Global Research Alliance 124

IFRI: An International Research Network 126

Strategies for Data Collection 127

Strategies for Coordination 128

Contributions and Challenges 129

Comparing the Strategies and Drawing Implications 132

Part 3 Models and Experiments in the Laboratory -and the Field

Chapter 6 Experiments in the Laboratory and the Field 141

The Experimental Method 142

Laboratory Experiments of Relevance to the Study of the Commons 144

Public Goods Experiments 146

Common-Pool Resource Experiments 150

Insights from Public Goods and Common-Pool Resource Experiments in the Laboratory 153

Face-to-Face Communication in the Laboratory 153

Heterogeneity 156

Sanctioning Experiments 158

Field Experiments 159

Toward a New Generation of Experiments of Commons Dilemmas 163

New Developments in Laboratory Experiments 164

Toward a New Generation of Field Experiments 168

Conclusion 169

Chapter 7 Agent-Based Models of Collective Action 171

A Brief Introduction to Agent-Based Modeling 171

Cellular Automata 172

Networks 173

Agents 174

Strengths and Weaknesses of Agent-Based Models 175

Repeated Prisoner's Dilemma 177

Cooperation among Egoists 177

Evolving Strategies in Prisoner's Dilemma Tournaments 178

Spatial Games 1814 Spati Social Dilemma Games 180

Spatial Public Goods Games 181

Indirect Reciprocity 182

Evolution of Costly Punishment 185

Evolution of Social (Meta) Norms 187

Future Challenges 188

Conclusion 191

Chapter 8 Building Empirically Grounded Agent-Based Models 194

Comparing Simulations with Data 195

Different Approaches to Combine Empirical Data and Agent-Based Models 196

Agent-Based Models of Laboratory and Field Experiments 198

Role Games and Companion Modeling 204

Models of Case Studies 207

Methodological Challenges 210

Conclusion 212

Part 4 Synthesis

Chapter 9 Pushing the Frontiers of the Theory of Collective Action and the Commons 215

Synopsis of Research Developments Reviewed in Parts II and III 217

Toward a More General-Behavioral Theory of Human Action 220

Assumptions of a Behavioral Theory 222

The Centrality of Trust 226

Unpacking the Concept of Context 227

The Microsituational Context 228

The Impact of Microsituational Variables on Cooperation 228

The Challenge of Linking Contextual Scales 231

The Broader Scale Affecting Collective Action 232

Ontological Frameworks 232

An Ontological Framework of Social-Ecological Systems 234

Predicting Self-Organization Drawing on the SES Framework 236

Diagnosing Institutional Change 239

Challenges for Future Research 243

Conclusion 245

Appendix 9.1 A Theoretical Puzzle: Why Do Some Resource Users Self-Organize and Others Do Not? 246

Chapter 10 Learning from Multiple Methods 248

Interlocking Developments in Methods and Theory 249

Methodological and Disciplinary Cross-Fertilization and Theoretical Innovation 251

Sequential Movement between Methods and Disciplines 252

Combining Multiple Methods and Disciplines in a Program of Research 255

Spaces for Cross-Fertilization 257

Practical Challenges 258

Trade-Offs in Training and Research 258

Professional Incentives 260

Collaborative Research as a Collective-Action Problem 262

Rewards to Individual and Collaborative Research 263

Fragmentation of Academia 265

Misunderstandings and Mistrust 266

Long-Term Funding 269

Responding to the Challenges 270

Looking Forward 271

Notes 275

References 289

Index 339

What People are Saying About This

Jim Granato

This excellent book is superior to other works, and the most effective I have read. It provides a learned guide for integrating various tools in developing rigorous research designs. The book's accessibility and sheer breadth allow readers to think of applications for their own research.
— Jim Granato, University of Houston

Arrow

The research of Elinor Ostrom and her colleagues on the emergence of well-functioning collective rules for exploitation of renewable natural resources has overturned conventional wisdom and led to new insights of the greatest importance for both policy and the understanding of fundamental economic and ecological processes. This book does more than survey and integrate the work in this field. It also explores the various methodologies used by different scholars, case studies, comparative analyses, and large-scale statistical research, showing the values and limitations of each and the need for multiple approaches. It is realistic enough to consider the effects of different approaches on the careers of scholars and the likely biases. This is a landmark work which crosses boundaries in the social sciences.
— Kenneth J. Arrow, Nobel Prize-winning economist

From the Publisher

"The research of Elinor Ostrom and her colleagues on the emergence of well-functioning collective rules for exploitation of renewable natural resources has overturned conventional wisdom and led to new insights of the greatest importance for both policy and the understanding of fundamental economic and ecological processes. This book does more than survey and integrate the work in this field. It also explores the various methodologies used by different scholars, case studies, comparative analyses, and large-scale statistical research, showing the values and limitations of each and the need for multiple approaches. It is realistic enough to consider the effects of different approaches on the careers of scholars and the likely biases. This is a landmark work which crosses boundaries in the social sciences."—Kenneth J. Arrow, Nobel Prize-winning economist

"This remarkable book ties multiple complex themes into a balanced whole. Well-argued, it emphasizes the science in social science and illustrates that carefully designed research questions, tested and extended through the use of multiple methods, lead to the culmination of knowledge."—Edella Schlager, University of Arizona

"This excellent book is superior to other works, and the most effective I have read. It provides a learned guide for integrating various tools in developing rigorous research designs. The book's accessibility and sheer breadth allow readers to think of applications for their own research."—Jim Granato, University of Houston

Edella Schlager

This remarkable book ties multiple complex themes into a balanced whole. Well-argued, it emphasizes the science in social science and illustrates that carefully designed research questions, tested and extended through the use of multiple methods, lead to the culmination of knowledge.
— Edella Schlager, University of Arizona

Editorial Reviews

Elinor Ostrom, Co-Winner of 2009 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

"The cutting edge knowledge on collective action introduced in this book is particularly challenging. . . . [T]his book is something that social simulation practitioners should definitely read."—-Olivier Barreteau, Journal of Artificial Societies Social Simulation

From the Publisher

The cutting edge knowledge on collective action introduced in this book is particularly challenging. . . . [T]his book is something that social simulation practitioners should definitely read.

Journal of Artificial Societies Social Simulation - Olivier Barreteau

The cutting edge knowledge on collective action introduced in this book is particularly challenging. . . . [T]his book is something that social simulation practitioners should definitely read.
— Olivier Barreteau

Journal of Artificial Societies Social Simulation