Working together : collective action, the commons, and multiple methods in practice / Amy R. Poteete; Marco A. Janssen; Elinor Ostrom.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

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.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• List of Illustrations (p. xiii)
• List of Tables (p. xv)
• Acknowledgments (p. xvii)
• Prologue (p. xxi)
• Part 1 Introduction
• Chapter 1 Overcoming Methodological Challenges (p. 3)
• Social Science Debates over the Superiority of Particular Methods (p. 7)
• Multiple Methods: Promises and Challenges (p. 11)
• Practical Challenges and Methodological Trade-Offs (p. 14)
• Technological Development and the Costs of Border Crossing (p. 15)
• Availability and Accessibility of Data (p. 17)
• Career Incentives as Methodological Constraints (p. 18)
• Training (p. 19)
• Career Incentives and Specialization (p. 20)
• Our Substantive Focus (p. 21)
• Interactions between Theory and Methods (p. 23)
• Multiple Methods and Collaborative Research (p. 23)
• Practical Constraints on Methodological Choices (p. 23)
• Career Incentives and Methodological Practice (p. 24)
• Outline of the Book (p. 24)
• Part 2 Field Methods
• Chapter 2 Small-N Case Studies: Putting the Commons under a Magnifying Glass (p. 31)
• The Conventional Theory of the Commons (p. 31)
• The Case Study Method (p. 33)
• Cases, Case Studies, and Case Study Research (p. 33)
• Analytical Strengths and Weaknesses (p. 34)
• Practical Considerations (p. 37)
• Synthesizing Challenges and Coordinating New Research Efforts (p. 39)
• Contributions to the Study of the Commons (p. 45)
• Property Rights and Tenure Security (p. 45)
• Group Characteristics (p. 52)
• Resource Characteristics (p. 57)
• Case Studies as a Foundation (p. 60)
• Chapter 3 Broadly Comparative Field-Based Research (p. 64)
• Methodological Practices over Fifteen Years of Research (p. 65)
• Defining the Units of Analysis (p. 66)
• Trading Geographic Scope for Numbers? (p. 68)
• Theoretical Aspirations and Methodological Practices (p. 74)
• Practical Challenges to Broadly Comparative Field-Based Research (p. 74)
• Costs of Data Collection (p. 75)
• Research Design and Sampling (p. 76)
• The Implications of Data Scarcity and Costliness (p. 78)
• Meta-Analysis: An Introduction (p. 78)
• Weighing the Benefits and Costs of Meta-Analysis (p. 81)
• Coding Strategies and Missing Data (p. 81)
• Potential Sources of Sample Bias (p. 83)
• The Choice of Methodological Strategy: Weighing Costs against Control (p. 86)
• Chapter 4 Meta-Analysis: Getting the Big Picture through Synthesis (p. 89)
• Meta-Analysis: A Recapitulation (p. 89)
• The Common-Pool Resource (CPR) Research Program (p. 90)
• Defining Variables (p. 92)
• Compensating for Gaps in Case Materials (p. 93)
• Contributions (p. 94)
• Overall Assessment (p. 101)
• NIIS: A Hybrid Approach (p. 102)
• Adaptation of the CPR Protocols (p. 103)
• Measurement and Sampling (p. 104)
• Contributions (p. 105)
• Overall Assessment (p. 107)
• Other Synthetic Studies (p. 107)
• Additional Examples of Meta-Analysis (p. 108)
• An Example of Narrative Synthesis (p. 111)
• Progress and Continuing Challenges (p. 113)
• Chapter 5 Collaborative Field Studies (p. 115)
• Collaboration in Field-Based Research, 1990-2004 (p. 116)
• Two Research Partnerships (p. 118)
• Community-Based Management of Common-Pool Resources in Tanzania (p. 118)
• Traditional Management of Artisanal Fisheries in Nigeria (p. 120)
• Thoughts about Research Partnerships (p. 124)
• CGIAR: A Global Research Alliance (p. 124)
• IFRI: An International Research Network (p. 126)
• Strategies for Data Collection (p. 127)
• Strategies for Coordination (p. 128)
• Contributions and Challenges (p. 129)
• Comparing the Strategies and Drawing Implications (p. 132)
• Part 3 Models and Experiments in the Laboratory -and the Field
• Chapter 6 Experiments in the Laboratory and the Field (p. 141)
• The Experimental Method (p. 142)
• Laboratory Experiments of Relevance to the Study of the Commons (p. 144)
• Public Goods Experiments (p. 146)
• Common-Pool Resource Experiments (p. 150)
• Insights from Public Goods and Common-Pool Resource Experiments in the Laboratory (p. 153)
• Face-to-Face Communication in the Laboratory (p. 153)
• Heterogeneity (p. 156)
• Sanctioning Experiments (p. 158)
• Field Experiments (p. 159)
• Toward a New Generation of Experiments of Commons Dilemmas (p. 163)
• New Developments in Laboratory Experiments (p. 164)
• Toward a New Generation of Field Experiments (p. 168)
• Conclusion (p. 169)
• Chapter 7 Agent-Based Models of Collective Action (p. 171)
• A Brief Introduction to Agent-Based Modeling (p. 171)
• Cellular Automata (p. 172)
• Networks (p. 173)
• Agents (p. 174)
• Strengths and Weaknesses of Agent-Based Models (p. 175)
• Repeated Prisoner's Dilemma (p. 177)
• Cooperation among Egoists (p. 177)
• Evolving Strategies in Prisoner's Dilemma Tournaments (p. 178)
• Spatial Games 1814 (p. 180)
• Spatial Public Goods Games (p. 181)
• Indirect Reciprocity (p. 182)
• Evolution of Costly Punishment (p. 185)
• Evolution of Social (Meta) Norms (p. 187)
• Future Challenges (p. 188)
• Conclusion (p. 191)
• Chapter 8 Building Empirically Grounded Agent-Based Models (p. 194)
• Comparing Simulations with Data (p. 195)
• Different Approaches to Combine Empirical Data and Agent-Based Models (p. 196)
• Agent-Based Models of Laboratory and Field Experiments (p. 198)
• Role Games and Companion Modeling (p. 204)
• Models of Case Studies (p. 207)
• Methodological Challenges (p. 210)
• Conclusion (p. 212)
• Part 4 Synthesis
• Chapter 9 Pushing the Frontiers of the Theory of Collective Action and the Commons (p. 215)
• Synopsis of Research Developments Reviewed in Parts II and III (p. 217)
• Toward a More General-Behavioral Theory of Human Action (p. 220)
• Assumptions of a Behavioral Theory (p. 222)
• The Centrality of Trust (p. 226)
• Unpacking the Concept of Context (p. 227)
• The Microsituational Context (p. 228)
• The Impact of Microsituational Variables on Cooperation (p. 228)
• The Challenge of Linking Contextual Scales (p. 231)
• The Broader Scale Affecting Collective Action (p. 232)
• Ontological Frameworks (p. 232)
• An Ontological Framework of Social-Ecological Systems (p. 234)
• Predicting Self-Organization Drawing on the SES Framework (p. 236)
• Diagnosing Institutional Change (p. 239)
• Challenges for Future Research (p. 243)
• Conclusion (p. 245)
• Appendix 9.1 A Theoretical Puzzle: Why Do Some Resource Users Self-Organize and Others Do Not? (p. 246)
• Chapter 10 Learning from Multiple Methods (p. 248)
• Interlocking Developments in Methods and Theory (p. 249)
• Methodological and Disciplinary Cross-Fertilization and Theoretical Innovation (p. 251)
• Sequential Movement between Methods and Disciplines (p. 252)
• Combining Multiple Methods and Disciplines in a Program of Research (p. 255)
• Spaces for Cross-Fertilization (p. 257)
• Practical Challenges (p. 258)
• Trade-Offs in Training and Research (p. 258)
• Professional Incentives (p. 260)
• Collaborative Research as a Collective-Action Problem (p. 262)
• Rewards to Individual and Collaborative Research (p. 263)
• Fragmentation of Academia (p. 265)
• Misunderstandings and Mistrust (p. 266)
• Long-Term Funding (p. 269)
• Responding to the Challenges (p. 270)
• Looking Forward (p. 271)
• Notes (p. 275)
• References (p. 289)
• Index (p. 339)

Author notes provided by Syndetics