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DR@W Forum: Philippe Blanchard (Department of Politics and International Studies)
"How optimal is optimal matching?"
Most of the sequence analysis literature in the social sciences relies on the optimal matching algorithm. Imported and adapted from computer science and genetics in the 1980s, this tool has enabled unique advances in the study of professional careers, life course and spatial trajectories, time use patterns, regime change or electoral behaviours.
Yet its foundations remain surprisingly frail, with heterogeneous justifications and uses. A closer examination reveals a complex and varying combination of theoretical principles, authoritative case studies and powerful statistical procedures. However, the algorithm remains attractive, but unevenly across theoretical expectations, contexts of applications and analytical strategies.