IQMR Methods Bar

Tuesday, June 23, 2026 — 7:00 to 8:30pm
Strasser Commons and Strasser Legacy Room, Second Floor Eggers Hall

Please join us for IQMR’s inaugural “Methods Bar”! Grab a methods-themed mocktail and mingle with IQMR instructors and other IQMR participants, sharing your research ideas and thinking through research challenges in a low-key informal setting. Attendance is optional for IQMR participants. The “Bar” draws inspiration from the very successful “Methods Café” that the Interpretive Methodologies and Methods Related Group runs annually at the APSA meeting.

Format

The “Bar” has 11 large tables, each focused on a particular methodological topic, with an IQMR instructor sitting at each.
IQMR participants circulate among the tables, speaking with the instructors and each other about their research. The conversation at each table will be relatively unstructured and free-flowing, with everyone engaging.
Please try to interact with instructors whose modules you aren’t taking.
Please wear your IQMR name badge!

Tables

Instructor	Table Title	Description
Andy Bennett	Process Tracing, Typological Theorizing	Our conversation will focus on process tracing and typological theorizing, both of which build on the alternative explanations that a researcher poses for the outcomes of the cases they study. So bring a napkin or the back of an envelope (a big one) if you want to try sketching out a typological theory for your research project.
Kanisha Bond	Reflexivity Beyond Autobiography	Discussions will center on reflexivity and its relation to social position, and how it shapes design, evidence, inference, and interpretation across qualitative, mixed-methods, and situated quantitative research.
Chris Carter	Causal Inference on a Budget	Many of the foundational causal inference approaches (field, lab, and survey experiments) require substantial funding to implement. In an increasingly resource-constrained environment, it is important to consider research approaches that yield rigorous inferences without breaking the bank. This table will focus on practical multi-method approaches to causal inference. We will discuss the role of qualitative and archival data in identifying, strengthening, and evaluating research designs. Much of this data can be collected without months of international fieldwork or significant resource expenditures.
Tasha Fairfield	Comparing Alternative Explanations	Comparing alternative explanations is a central task for social science. Which explanation from the literature is the leading contender? Does a new explanation perform better or worse than alternatives that have already been theorized? We will discuss how to craft well-specified alternative explanations to compare in your research, and how to go about testing them with empirical evidence. The key Bayesian insight is that evidence which fits with your explanation does not necessarily support your explanation—what matters is whether the evidence fits better with your explanation relative to the rivals.
Diana Kapiszewski	Digital Fieldwork	Table will focus on the data-generation and measurement benefits, as well as the challenges (personal, operational, and ethical), involved in preparing for and conducting digital fieldwork. Digital fieldwork refers to collecting and generating data and evidence in digital or computerized form, often removed from the dynamics or community of focus, using electronic technologies and platforms.
Sebastian Karcher	Keeping Data Safe and Secure	Discussing security strategies for your data — ranging from the mundane ("what is a good back-up strategy") to fieldwork requiring individualized high-security solutions.
Lauren MacLean	Developing a Survey Instrument	Table will focus on the multi-step process of developing a survey instrument, including conceptualizing questions (e.g., deciding between open-ended and closed-ended questions — keeping in mind the mode of delivery), confirming questions' connection to the research question and project, pre-testing and adjusting, and potentially pre-registration.
Sarah Parkinson	Qualitative Social Network Analysis and Relational Approaches	Table will focus on relational approaches and complex causality as well as design, data generation, and analysis for qualitative social network projects.
Jonnell Robinson	Conducting Rigorous Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR)	Incorporating participatory approaches into your research design to co-create new knowledge with research collaborators. If you're interested to conduct research with community collaborators (instead of on community members) this table will get you thinking about windows of opportunity to integrate community participation into one or all phases of your research.
Jaye Seawright	Mixing Machine Learning and Qualitative Methods	Can we use machine-learning methods, such as random forests, LASSO regression, text models, and so forth, while still keeping our qualitative bearings? This table is a space for thinking about how to engage with the cutting edge in cross-disciplinary statistical and computational methods in a way that serves qualitative agendas.
Fiona Shen-Bayh	Large Language Models — For What and For Whom?	What role — if any — should AI play in qualitative research? Many scholars (students and faculty alike) are grappling with whether and to what extent they should be incorporating large language models into their research pipeline. This discussion will provide participants an opportunity to discuss and reflect on their use (or non-use) of AI in their research and debate suggestions for best practices.