4.D Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA)
📖 Books
Qualitative Comparative Analysis Using R: A Beginner’s Guide. Cambridge University Press. (2021)
Oana, I.-E., Schneider, C. Q., & Thomann, E.
“A comprehensive introduction and teaching resource for state-of-the-art Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) using R software. This guide facilitates the efficient teaching, independent learning, and use of QCA with the best available software, reducing the time and effort required when encountering not just the logic of a new method, but also new software. With its applied and practical focus, the book offers a genuinely simple and intuitive resource for implementing the most complete protocol of QCA. To make the lives of students, teachers, researchers, and practitioners as easy as possible, the book includes learning goals, core points, empirical examples, and tips for good practices. The freely available online material provides a rich body of additional resources to aid users in their learning process. Beyond performing core analyses with the R package QCA, the book also facilitates a close integration with the R package SetMethods allowing for a host of additional protocols for building a more solid and well-rounded QCA.”
submitted by Kate Albrecht
📄 Articles
Combining Structure, Governance, and Context: A Configurational Approach to Network Effectiveness. (2015)
📄 Link: https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/mut039
Raab, J., Mannak, R. S., & Cambré, B.
Abstract
“This study explores the way in which network structure (network integration), network context (resource munificence and stability), and network governance mode relate to network effectiveness. The model by Provan and Milward (Provan, Keith G., and H. Brinton Milward. 1995. A preliminary theory of interorganizational network effectiveness: A comparative study of four community mental health systems. Administrative Science Quarterly 40 (1):1–33) on the effectiveness of designed and goal-directed interorganizational networks is extended and tested on the basis of 39 crime prevention networks (Safety Houses) in the Netherlands. Ten cases were subjected to in-depth analysis through documentation reviews, interviews, observations, and a survey among network participants. In the other 29 cases semistructured interviews were conducted with the network managers. The data for all 39 cases were analyzed with crisp-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis. The results revealed two different configurations for network effectiveness. Effective networks are centrally integrated networks that have been in existence for at least 3 years (age) and which show a high degree of stability. In addition, they either have considerable resources at their disposal or they have been set up with a network administrative organization. The results confirm core insights from Provan and Milward’s earlier study but also show that administrative resources can serve as a substitute for financial resources (and vice versa). The article concludes with suggestions for the further development of a configurational theory of network effectiveness.”
submitted by Kate Albrecht
Social Network Analysis and Qualitative Comparative Analysis: Their mutual benefit for the explanation of policy network structures. (2011)
📄 Link: https://doi.org/10.4256/mio.2010.0034
Fischer, M.
Abstract
“By switching the level of analysis and aggregating data from the micro-level of individual cases to the macro-level, quantitative data can be analysed within a more case-based approach. This paper presents such an approach in two steps: In a first step, it discusses the combination of Social Network Analysis (SNA) and Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) in a sequential mixed-methods research design. In such a design, quantitative social network data on individual cases and their relations at the micro-level are used to describe the structure of the network that these cases constitute at the macro-level. Different network structures can then be compared by QCA. This strategy allows adding an element of potential causal explanation to SNA, while SNA-indicators allow for a systematic description of the cases to be compared by QCA. Because mixing methods can be a promising, but also a risky endeavour, the methodological part also discusses the possibility that underlying assumptions of both methods could clash. In a second step, the research design presented beforehand is applied to an empirical study of policy network structures in Swiss politics. Through a comparison of 11 policy networks, causal paths that lead to a conflictual or consensual policy network structure are identified and discussed. The analysis reveals that different theoretical factors matter and that multiple conjunctural causation is at work. Based on both the methodological discussion and the empirical application, it appears that a combination of SNA and QCA can represent a helpful methodological design for social science research and a possibility of using quantitative data with a more case-based approach.”
submitted by Kate Albrecht
How to make public networks really work: A qualitative comparative analysis. Public Administration, 94(1), 89–110 (2016)
📄 Link: https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12192
Cristofoli, D., & Markovic, J.
Abstract
“Many studies have striven to understand which factors affect the performance of public networks. However, there are very few studies in the field of public management that investigate the joint, interactive effects of different determinants on network performance. This article uses the relatively new method of qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to investigate the complex causality of determinants and network performance. It examines the combination of resource munificence, centralization of the network structure, formalization of coordination mechanisms, network management and their joint effects on network performance. An analysis of 12 Swiss networks providing home and social care services shows that there are a range of possible paths. Various combinations of the above-mentioned factors can in fact lead to high network performance. The paths provide insight into how to make public networks really work.”
submitted by Kate Albrech
💻 Data Packages
R packages: QCA and SetMethods, both on CRAN; the latter’s manual:
💻 Link https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/SetMethods/SetMethods.pdf
Ioana-Elena Oana, Juraj Medzihorsky, Mario Quaranta, Carsten Q. Schneider
“Functions for performing set-theoretic multi-method research, QCA for clustered data, theory evaluation, Enhanced Standard Analysis, indirect calibration, radar visualisations. Additionally it includes data to replicate the examples in the books by Oana, I.E, C. Q. Schneider, and E. Thomann. Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) using R: A Beginner’s Guide. Cambridge University Press and C. Q. Schneider and C. Wagemann ``Set Theoretic Methods for the Social Sciences’’, Cambridge University Press.”
submitted by Kate Albrecht
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