NARRATIVE EXPLANATION: An Alternative to Variable-Centered Explanation?

The nature of narrative explanations is explored as an alternative to the better established variable-centered explanations. Narratives are conceived as digraphs where the nodes are states of the world and the arcs are actions (causes). Comparative narratives are understood as mappings between digraphs. Ethnographic and historical explanations, where the number of cases is small and causality complex, may depend upon a narrative depiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]