The goal of analytic narratives is to provide several forms of discipline on the structure of case studies, such as a game, out of sample tests, and additional predictions that can be tested even if the main assertion about the case cannot.
Analytic narratives (Bates et al. 1998, 2000; Levi 2002, 2004) involve choosing a problem or puzzle, then building a model to explicate the logic of an explanation for the puzzle or problem, often in the context of a unique case.
The method involves: the use of narrative to elucidate the principal players, their preferences, the key decision points and possibilities, and the rules of game in a textured and sequenced account; and the evaluation of the model through comparative statics and the testable implications the model generates.
[1] The analytic narrative approach is most attractive to scholars who seek to evaluate the strength of parsimonious causal mechanisms in the context of a specific and often unique case.
The presumption today in social science research is that the authors will provide those tests themselves.