IGRI Mission and Research Program

The Institutional Grammar Research Initiative (IGRI) convenes scholars from around the world who are interested in the study and practice of institutional analysis. Institutions are the rules (e.g., laws), norms (e.g., social norms), and strategies (e.g., behavioral conventions) that govern behavior in social systems. IGRI activities center around the development of the Institutional Grammar (IG) (Crawford & Ostrom 1995, Basurto et. al. 2010, Siddiki et. al. 2011, Frantz & Siddiki 2022), an increasingly prominent paradigm for supporting the conceptualization and measurement of institutions. The IGRI supports the generation of rigorous and relevant research and is dedicated to the development and dissemination of resources to support researchers and practitioners in their work. These resources also support and convey best practices in IG research.

The IGRI and its activities are designed to support principles of Commons-Based Peer Production (CBPP), which encourage collaboration across sectors (public, private, non-profit) and emphasize the use of open, collaborative platforms and “Copyleft” licensing for engaging scholars with common intellectual interests in scientific problem-solving wherever they live, globally [for information on Copyleft licensing see here and here]. Consistent with these principles, the IGRI supports the development of open-source and open-access intellectual products, public accessibility to IGRI seminars, and broad dissemination of IGRI and related products.

IGRI affiliates are engaged in research focusing on the themes described below. Overarching these cross-cutting research themes is the ambition to develop IGRI as a hub that brings together theoretical, methodological and technical knowledge, as well as serving as an exchange for expertise and best practices. Associated efforts include the provision of infrastructure to serve associated resources (e.g., articles, best practice white papers, dataset repositories, software) along with hosting venues of diverse kind, variably relevant to facilitate exchange amongst established as well as emerging/interested IG scholars (e.g., IGRI Research Seminars, conferences), or inviting audiences without prior exposure to the IG (e.g., workshops, trainings).

Theme 1: Advancing Theory and Conceptual Measurement Using the IG

• Integrating the IG into diverse theoretical applications to showcase the utility of the IG in the measurement of theoretical concepts and complementary development of theoretical explanation.

Theme 2: Facilitating the Study of Social Behavior Using the IG

• Exploring interactions among institutions-in-form and institutions-in-use, applying distinctive methods for data collection and analysis of rules in use, as well as fostering efforts toward conceptualizing and testing cognitive infrastructure (e.g., cognitive models) that enable novel approaches to study institutions.

Theme 3: Using the IG in the Study of Institutional Performance

• Using the IG to explore characteristics of governance processes and the relationship between the design of institutions and their performance.

Theme 4: Advancing the Development of Methods to Support Institutional Analysis

• Advancing the development of methods to support institutional analysis through methodological applications, refinements of existing methodological approaches, and development of standards and best practices to guide their use.

Theme 5: Developing Computational Approaches to Support Institutional Analysis

• Development or customization of software to support automation in IG research, including data collection or generation, processing, analysis, validation, or any other stage of the research process.

For more information on each research theme, please visit the IGRI Research Themes page.