Methods for Analyzing Social Dilemmas and Institutional Arrangements Within the Institutional Analysis and Development Framework

The Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework allows policy analysts to systematically analyze settings in which actors interact and realize shared outcomes. In such settings, or action situations, social dilemmas often emerge producing undesirable outcomes. How collective action among actors in action situations develops and how social dilemmas are resolved through the adoption of institutional arrangements represent key lines of IAD research. Methods appropriate for examining interactions among actors in action situations, and commonly used by IAD framework scholars, are described in this chapter. Specifically, case studies, laboratory experiments, field experiments, agent-based models, and network analysis methods are presented. The basic features of each method, how each method is used to study action situations, recent advances in their application, and examples and illustrations of their use are described. How the methods may be used singly or together, and sources of models and data are also included. This chapter concludes by exploring new lines of research that promise to further develop new approaches for the study of institutional arrangements.