Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title
International Journal of the Commons
Publisher
Utrecht University Library Open Access Journals
Publication Date
9-9-2016
Volume
10
Issue
2
First Page
440
Last Page
466
Abstract
On-going efforts to understand the dynamics of coupled social-ecological (or more broadly, coupled infrastructure) systems and common pool resources have led to the generation of numerous datasets based on a large number of case studies. This data has facilitated the identification of important factors and fundamental principles which increase our understanding of such complex systems. However, the data at our disposal are often not easily comparable, have limited scope and scale, and are based on disparate underlying frameworks inhibiting synthesis, meta-analysis, and the validation of findings. Research efforts are further hampered when case inclusion criteria, variable definitions, coding schema, and inter-coder reliability testing are not made explicit in the presentation of research and shared among the research community. This paper first outlines challenges experienced by researchers engaged in a large-scale coding project; then highlights valuable lessons learned; and finally discusses opportunities for further research on comparative case study analysis focusing on social-ecological systems and common pool resources.
Recommended Citation
Ratajczyk E., Brady U., Baggio J.A., Barnett A., Perez-Ibarra I., Rollins N., Rubiños C., Shin H.C., Yu D.J., Aggarwal R., Anderies J.M., Janssen M.A. (2016). Challenges and Opportunities in Coding the Commons: Problems, Procedures, and Potential Solutions in Large-N Comparative Case Studies. International Journal of the Commons, 10(2), 440-466.
