Complexity, Generality, and Qualitative Comparative Analysis
- 1 November 2003
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Field Methods
- Vol. 15 (4), 323-340
- https://doi.org/10.1177/1525822x03257689
Abstract
Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) offers researchers the opportunity to combine the intensiveness of case-oriented research strategies and the extensiveness of variable-oriented approaches in a single framework. QCA is specifically designed for a moderate number of cases, too few for variable-oriented research designs and too many for in-depth, case-oriented analysis. To illustrate QCA's applicability to moderate-sized data sets, we analyze data on forty-one villages in southern India reported in Robert Wade's (1988) comparative study of villagewide collective action, Village Republics. Using QCA, we show that Wade's explanation of village-wide collective action is incomplete. We complement his strictly ecological explanation with a sociological perspective and show that intervillage competition is an important condition for villagewide collective action.Keywords
This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
- Where to BeginSociological Methods & Research, 1994
- Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of EmbeddednessAmerican Journal of Sociology, 1985
- Assessing Discrimination: A Boolean ApproachAmerican Sociological Review, 1984
- The Tragedy of the CommonsScience, 1968