Protest Event Research

Social movement research has developed a rich tradition of using data on collective action and protest events (hereafter “events”) that are culled from various sources (e.g. news reports, police records). Event data have been used by scholars to answer questions about the causes of ethnic violence and collective action, citizen protest of various types, and strikes. Event data has also been used to analyze the outcomes of social movements, including the policing of protest. A major benefit of these types of data is that it facilitates both comparative and historical research, while also allowing for quantitative research on social movements. Additionally, there is often no better alternative.