Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) and Related Systematic Comparative Methods
- 1 September 2006
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in International Sociology
- Vol. 21 (5), 679-706
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0268580906067836
Abstract
During the past two decades, a set of systematic comparative case analysis techniques has been developing at a steady pace. During the last few years especially, the main initial technique, qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), has been complemented by other related methods and techniques. The purpose of this article is to critically assess some main recent developments in this field. QCA and connected methods can be considered at two levels: as a research strategy and as a set of concrete techniques. The author first argues that such a strategy displays some decisive advantages in social science research, especially in small-and intermediate-N research designs. Second, QCA as well as three other related techniques, namely multi-value QCA (MVQCA), fuzzy sets and MSDO/MDSO, are presented in brief, and some current debates with regard to these techniques are also summarized. In the third section, the article surveys recent contributions and ongoing efforts that have provided some advances in the application of these techniques, around five key issues: case selection and model specification; measurement, dichotomization and linkage with theory; contradictions and non-observed cases; the time and process dimension; and the confrontation or combination with other methods. Finally, the article discuss the potential for further development of these methods in social science research broadly defined.Keywords
This publication has 58 references indexed in Scilit:
- The Organizational and Social Foundations of Worker ResistanceAmerican Sociological Review, 2004
- Qualitative Comparative Analysis and Public Services Research: Lessons from an Early ApplicationPublic Management Review, 2002
- Agency and Social Networks: Strategies of Action in a Social Structure of Position, Opposition, and OpportunityAdministrative Science Quarterly, 2000
- The Outcomes of Homeless Mobilization: The Influence of Organization, Disruption, Political Mediation, and FramingAmerican Journal of Sociology, 2000
- The Scope of General TheorySociological Methods & Research, 1999
- Social Politics in Context: The Institutional Politics Theory and Social Spending at the End of the New DealSocial Forces, 1996
- Boolean comparative analysis of qualitative dataQuality & Quantity, 1995
- Temporality, Events, and Explanation in Historical SociologySociological Methods & Research, 1992
- A Comparative Method: Reflections on Charles Ragin's Innovations in Comparative AnalysisHistorical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History, 1990
- Modeling event structures*The Journal of Mathematical Sociology, 1989