Institutional Change and Qualitative Research: Methodological considerations for institutional economic empirical research

This paper argues for the use of more qualitative research when analysing institutional change. Institutional change is often complex, context dependant, and deals with new phenomena. It is argued that qualitative data – which is often linked to inductive approaches, completely disavowed since the Methodenstreit – has been used for many new institutional theory developments. The next argument made, is that currently favoured explanations of institutional change indicate that a more intensive and rigorous use of qualitative data is necessary. Many scholars claim that understanding institutional change demands the consideration of multiple rationalities and cognition. To understand these aspects, qualitative data and thereby qualitative methods are required. Many institutional scholars who emphasise the necessity for a qualitative understanding of institutional change processes do not apply their thoughts empirically.(JEL B40, B52, P48)