Investigating agency: methodological and empirical challenges
(2021) p.302-323- Abstract
- The promise of connecting agency and structure in studies of regional development is to disentangle causal effects and to better understand to what extent and how individuals, groups of individuals, and organisations can shape regional trajectories. This is not without challenges because agency and structure are deep theoretical constructs, which are not easily translated into empirical research. We have devoted a research project to study how agency and structure are connected in the context of regional development and have faced many difficulties on the way. Here, we would like to share our experiences and proposed solutions grouped into seven challenges, which were present in all of the 12 comparative case studies in Finland, Norway and... (More)
- The promise of connecting agency and structure in studies of regional development is to disentangle causal effects and to better understand to what extent and how individuals, groups of individuals, and organisations can shape regional trajectories. This is not without challenges because agency and structure are deep theoretical constructs, which are not easily translated into empirical research. We have devoted a research project to study how agency and structure are connected in the context of regional development and have faced many difficulties on the way. Here, we would like to share our experiences and proposed solutions grouped into seven challenges, which were present in all of the 12 comparative case studies in Finland, Norway and Sweden. The challenges refer to the ontology of agency and structure, the research design, the time period of study, the spatial scale, the research instrument, the data collection and analysis. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/fde7c425-7a9e-4b67-8937-219cec91b689
- author
- Grillitsch, Markus LU ; Rekers, Josephine V. LU and Sotarauta, Markku
- organization
- publishing date
- 2021
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- subject
- host publication
- Handbook on City and Regional Leadership
- pages
- 21 pages
- publisher
- Edward Elgar Publishing
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85103001953
- ISBN
- 9781788979689
- 9781788979672
- DOI
- 10.4337/9781788979689.00028
- project
- Regional Growth against all odds
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- fde7c425-7a9e-4b67-8937-219cec91b689
- date added to LUP
- 2021-03-01 16:06:05
- date last changed
- 2024-06-24 09:48:36
@inbook{fde7c425-7a9e-4b67-8937-219cec91b689,
abstract = {{The promise of connecting agency and structure in studies of regional development is to disentangle causal effects and to better understand to what extent and how individuals, groups of individuals, and organisations can shape regional trajectories. This is not without challenges because agency and structure are deep theoretical constructs, which are not easily translated into empirical research. We have devoted a research project to study how agency and structure are connected in the context of regional development and have faced many difficulties on the way. Here, we would like to share our experiences and proposed solutions grouped into seven challenges, which were present in all of the 12 comparative case studies in Finland, Norway and Sweden. The challenges refer to the ontology of agency and structure, the research design, the time period of study, the spatial scale, the research instrument, the data collection and analysis.}},
author = {{Grillitsch, Markus and Rekers, Josephine V. and Sotarauta, Markku}},
booktitle = {{Handbook on City and Regional Leadership}},
isbn = {{9781788979689}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{302--323}},
publisher = {{Edward Elgar Publishing}},
title = {{Investigating agency: methodological and empirical challenges}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.4337/9781788979689.00028}},
doi = {{10.4337/9781788979689.00028}},
year = {{2021}},
}