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Member rate £492.50
Non-Member rate £985.00
Save £45 Loyalty discount applied automatically*
Save 5% on each additional course booked
*If you attended our Methods School in Summer/Winter 2024.
Monday 25 February – Friday 1 March, 09:00–12:30
15 hours over five days
This course introduces you to crisp set and fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) and its analysis in R using the interactive graphical interface of the package QCA. It will give you a basic understanding of the analytic underpinnings and steps of QCA, and enable you to independently perform a basic crisp or fuzzy set QCA (Standard Analysis).
We will look at the origins, analytic aims, and variants of QCA and deal in depth with techniques and practices of set calibration. The nuts and bolts the QCA technique, from parameters of fit to all steps of the analyses of necessity and sufficiency, are illustrated based on an empirical example study which we replicate in class. We will then cover the presentation and interpretation of QCA results, as well as ways to deal with limited diversity and other potential pitfalls. Hands-on exercises and daily lab sessions provide opportunities for practice and engagement.
Tasks for ECTS Credits
2 credits (pass/fail grade) Attend 90% of the course hours, participate fully in in-class activities, and carry out the necessary reading and/or other work prior to, and after, class. Daily assignments will be either solutions to exercises provided after each lesson (to be submitted in Word format or equivalent), or solutions to R exercises (to be submitted as R script file).
4 credits As above, plus complete a take-home paper. The paper (2500–4000 words, excluding title page, references and appendices) will consist of one of the following:
In case of the former two, you will need to submit the paper (in Word or equivalent) and the separate R script documenting your analysis. Submission deadline [tbc].
More information about assignments will be provided in class. You will be provided with a list of applied QCA studies from different disciplines for inspiration.
Eva Thomann is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Politics of the University of Exeter who specialises in Public Policy and Public Administration. Previously she held research positions at the University of Bern, the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research, the University of Heidelberg, and the European University Institute in Florence.
Eva is the first author of Designing Research with Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). and the award-winning monograph Customized implementation of European Union food safety policy: United in diversity?
She has published extensively on case-oriented and set-theoretic research methods, policy implementation, and Europeanisation using innovative case-oriented and set-theoretic methodology such as Enhanced Standard Analysis, formal set-theoretic theory evaluation, robustness tests, large-N QCA, congruence analysis, explanatory typologies, and Comparative Multilevel Analysis.
Eva Thomann teaches case-oriented and set-theoretic methods at doctoral schools, invited workshops, and at MA level. She serves in various international networks and contributes to the development of pedagogical resources and other innovations in the use and teaching of QCA. See her personal website
This course introduces you to crisp set and fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis and its analysis in R using the interactive graphical interface of the package QCA. It will give you a basic understanding of the analytic underpinnings and steps of QCA and enable you to independently perform a basic crisp or fuzzy set QCA (Standard Analysis). Hands-on exercises and daily lab sessions provide opportunities for practice and engagement.
Depending on how many ECTS points you want, you can engage in a blend of 'manual' exercises (e.g. calibrating sets, Boolean algebra, crisp-set QCA) and R assignments, for which solutions will either be provided or discussed in the next lab session. At the end of the course, you will:
The course presupposes the knowledge and skills taught in short course WA102, Foundations of set-theoretic and case-oriented thinking and methodology. It will not cover advanced analytic tools such as Enhanced Standard Analysis, theory evaluation, or set-theoretic multi-method analysis. To learn these more advanced features, we recommend you follow this course up with the second week of the Qualitative Comparative Analysis and Fuzzy Sets course at our 2019 Summer School in Budapest and the Advanced Topics in Set-Theoretic Methods and QCA course at our 2020 Winter Methods School in Bamberg.
While we will use the R packages QCA (and, where warranted, SetMethods), we will not be working primarily with command lines offering the most advanced functionality for QCA software. Instead we employ the user-friendly, interactive graphical interface (shiny GUI app), which offers more basic functionality. We will, however, document our work in R scripts and occasionally discuss how to interpret and work with R commands. As such, the course teaches an 'easy' way to perform QCA with R, with its own limitations. You will gain basic familiarity with R and be able to transparently document your analysis for replication. However, to gain full proficiency in R, you will need further training or self study.
Day one
We look at the origins, analytic aims, and variants of QCA, and deal in depth with techniques and practices of set calibration. We discuss the distinction between QCA as a technique and QCA as an approach, and what that implies for designing research and taking analytic decisions. The lab session serves two purposes: to get familiar and play around with the graphical interface of the shiny GUI app, and to briefly refresh, deepen and practice the contents on causal complexity, INUS causation, and Boolean algebra.
Day two
We introduce the technical underpinnings of QCA, and discuss how to calculate the membership of cases in sets and complex combinations of sets (such as truth table rows or solution terms). We look at the meaning and calculation of two main parameters of fit with QCA: consistency and coverage. By ways of XY plots, we will learn how to assess fuzzy set relations of necessity and sufficiency using these criteria. The lab session covers set calibration, combining sets, and producing nice graphs – XY plots and Venn diagrams – with R.
Day three
We do our own basic QCA, looking first at all steps of the analyses of necessity and sufficiency, explained with the example of an empirical study. We look briefly at the implications of skewed set membership for these analytic steps. In the lab session, you will do your own first crisp set QCA by hand. Using R, we will then analyse simple set relations, construct and inspect a truth table, and discuss how to identify appropriate raw consistency thresholds.
Day four
We begin with another lab session, rather than a lecture, in which we perform the full analyses of necessity and sufficiency (conservative solution). The rest of the day is dedicated to the presentation and interpretation of the results, feeding back into the notion of QCA as an approach. In the lecture, we will discuss the interpretation of parameters of fit and how to make sense of complex QCA results, using empirical, conceptual, and theoretical knowledge. We will look at different possibilities of presenting QCA results, corresponding good practices and transparency requirements.
Day five
Dedicated to potential pitfalls in QCA in the face of 'noisy' empirical data. Specifically, we will talk about limited diversity, its implications for making counterfactual arguments in comparative research, and possibilities for doing so in QCA when resorting to conservative, intermediate, and parsimonious solution types. We learn the distinction between 'easy' and 'difficult' counterfactuals and their implementation via the so-called 'Standard Analysis'. We touch briefly on the question of what it means for QCA results to be 'robust'. In the lab session, we implement Standard Analysis with R and very briefly look at the issue of model ambiguity. In the remaining time we will discuss some arguments surrounding the debate between QCA 'realists' and 'idealists'.
Before signing up for this course, you must have taken my short course WA102 Foundations of set-theoretic and case-oriented thinking and methodology.
If you can provide evidence of equivalent prior training, you may be admitted to this course, under exceptional circumstances.
Day | Topic | Details |
---|---|---|
Day 1 | QCA: underpinnings, variants, and approaches |
Lecture (lecture room, 90’) Origin, dissemination, uses and variants of QCA Lab session (computer lab, 90’) Introduction to R using the shiny GUI app Refresher: set relations, INUS and SUIN conditions, Boolean algebra Daily assignment: exercises in Boolean algebra |
Day 2 | Understanding the technique |
Lecture (lecture room, 90’) Calculating membership in sets Lab session (computer lab, 90’) Set calibration Daily assignment: set calibration |
Day 3 | Let’s do QCA! |
Lecture (lecture room, 90’) Analyses of necessity and sufficiency explained: an example Lab session (computer lab, 90’) Manual exercises: With R: Daily assignment: finding a raw consistency threshold |
Day 4 | Making sense of QCA |
Lab session (computer lab, 90’) Fuzzy-set QCA of necessity and sufficiency (conservative solution) Daily assignment: simple analysis of necessity and sufficiency with R Lecture (lecture room, 90’) Interpreting parameters of fit and QCA solutions |
Day 5 | Limited empirical diversity and other potential pitfalls |
Lecture (lecture room, 90’) Limited diversity and counterfactual reasoning Lab session (computer lab, 90’) Standard Analysis Daily assignment: comparison and discussion of different QCA models |
Day | Readings |
---|---|
Day 1 |
Key readings Berg-Schlosser, D., De Meur, G., Rihoux, B. and C. C. Ragin (2009) Thomann, E. Ragin, C. C. (2008) Further, optional readings Berg-Schlosser, D. and G. De Meur (2009) Haesebrouck, T. (2015) Rihoux, B., Alamos, P., Bol, D., Marx, A. and I. Rezsohazy (2013) Schneider, C.Q. and C. Wagemann (2012) Thiem, A. (2014) Thomann, E. Oana, E. and S. Wittwer (2018) |
Day 2 |
Key readings Rihoux, B. and G. De Meur (2009) Ragin, C.C. (2009) Schneider, C.Q. and C. Wagemann (2012) Further, optional readings De Block, D. and B. Vis (2018) Ragin, C.C. (2006) Schneider, C.Q. and C. Wagemann (2012) Thomann, E. Oana, E. and S. Wittwer (2018) Toth, Z., Henneberg, S.C. and P. Naude (2017) |
Day 3 |
Key readings Hinterleitner, M., Sager, F. und E. Thomann (2016) Schneider, C.Q. and C. Wagemann (2012) Further, optional readings Gerrits, L. M. and S. Verweij (2013) Goertz, G., & Mahoney, J. (2005) Goertz, G., & Starr, H. (Eds.). (2002) Oana, I.-E. and C.Q. Schneider. 2018 Ragin, C.C. (1987/2014) Schneider, C.Q. and C. Wagemann (2012) Thomann, E. Oana, E. and S. Wittwer (2018) |
Day 4 |
Key readings Rihoux, B. and B. Lobe (2009) Schneider, C.Q. and C. Wagemann (2010) Wagemann, C. and C.Q. Schneider (2015) Further, optional readings Castro, R. G. and M.A. Ariño (2016) Fischer, M., & Maggetti, M. (2017) Thiem, A., Baumgartner, M. and D. Bol (2016) Thomann, E. Oana, E. and S. Wittwer (2018) Ragin, C.C. (1987/2014) Schneider, C. Q, and I. Rohlfing (2013) Williams, T. and S.M. Gemperle (2017) |
Day 5 |
Key readings Schneider, C.Q. and C. Wagemann (2012) Thomann, E. and M. Maggetti (2017) Further, optional readings Baumgartner, M. (2015) Baumgartner, M. and A. Thiem (2017) Emmenegger, P. (2011) Maggetti, M. and D. Levi-Faur (2013) Radaelli, C.M. and C. Wagemann (2018) Ragin, C.C. (2008) Rohlfing, I. (2018) Schneider, C.Q. (2018) Schneider, C.Q. and C. Wagemann (2013) Skaaning, S. (2011) Thomann, E. Oana, E. and S. Wittwer (2018) |
R and Rstudio (freeware; latest versions)
Web browser: Google chrome as standard browser
You can bring your own laptop – Mac and PC are ok. Please instal Google Chrome as your standard web browser before the first session.
Computers will be provided for the lab sessions.
Duşa, A. (2018)
QCA with R: A Comprehensive Resource
New York: Springer International Publishing
Ragin, C. C. (2000)
Fuzzy-set social science
Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press
Ragin, C. C. (2009)
Redesigning social inquiry: Fuzzy sets and beyond
Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Rihoux, B. and C.C. Ragin
Configurational Comparative Methods. Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) and Related Techniques
Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore: Sage Publications
Schneider, C.Q. and C. Wagemann (2012)
Set-Theoretic Methods for the Social Sciences. A Guide to Qualitative Comparative Analysis
New York: Cambridge University Press
Thomann, E. (2018)
Customized implementation of European Union food safety policy: United in diversity?
Palgrave Macmillan, International Series on Public Policy
Thomann, E. Oana, E. and S. Wittwer (2018)
Performing fuzzy- and crisp set QCA with R: A user-oriented beginner’s guide
Summer School
R Basics
Multi-Method Research: Techniques and Applications
Case Study Research: Method and Practice
Qualitative Data Analysis: Concepts and Approaches
Knowing and the Known: The Philosophy and Methodology of the Social Sciences
Seasoned Scholars Workshop: Multi-Method Designs, Case-Oriented and Comparative Methods
Winter School
Foundations of Set-Theoretic and Case-Oriented Thinking and Methodology (required)
Introduction to R (entry level)
Working with Concepts in the Social Sciences
Comparative Research Design
Summer School
Process Tracing Methodology I and II
Qualitative Comparative Analysis and Fuzzy Sets (week 2)
Intermediate R: Capacities for Analysis and Visualisation
Winter School
Process Tracing Methpds
Advanced Topics in Set-Theoretic Methods and QCA
Analyzing Political and Social Sequences