Veil of Ignorance Process Tracing and Contested Critical Observations

The problem of bias in the sources and evidence used to evaluate explanations in qualitative research is a longstanding topic (Goldthorpe 1991; Lustick 1996; Isacoff 2005; see also Thies 2002). The specific problem addressed by Copestake, Goertz, and Haggard’s Veil of ignorance Process Tracing (VPT) does not concern biases built into the available evidence itself (e.g., systematic error across all sources). Rather, Copestake, Goertz, and Haggard are concerned with investigator-induced biases in the selection of sources and the selection of specific pieces of evidence from within a given source. As a solution to these selection problems, the authors propose a new method—Veil of ignorance Process Tracing—in which a “veiled” research assistant is used to help neutrally select sources and evidence as well as code and interpret that evidence.