Qualitative Comparative Analysis

2024/2025

Academic Year

ENG

Instruction in English

3

ECTS credits

Delivered at:

Department of Political Science and International Affairs

Course type:

Elective course

When:

3 year, 3 module

Instructor

Sorbale, Aleksei

Course Syllabus

Abstract

This course introduces 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 to independently perform a basic crisp or fuzzy set QCA.

Learning Objectives

• Understand the basic principles and theoretical foundations of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA)
• Understand key concepts such as set theory, Boolean algebra, and causal complexity as they relate to QCA
• Learn how to collect and organize data suitable for QCA analysis
• Perform basic to QCA techniques, such as constructing and interpreting truth tables, conducting necessity and sufficiency tests, and implementing fuzzy-set QCA (fs/QCA)
• Know how to evaluate and interpret the results of QCA analyses

Expected Learning Outcomes

• articulates the basic principles and theoretical foundations of QCA
• demonstrates competence in collecting and organizing data suitable for QCA analysis
• uses R software for various stages of QCA analyses
• critically evaluates and interprets the results of QCA analyses, identifies potential biases, and addresses validity threats
• reports and visualizes QCA results in a clear and coherent manner

Course Contents

• QCA: underpinnings, variants, and approaches
• Understanding the QCA technique I
• Understanding the QCA technique II
• Making sense of fsQCA
• Limited empirical diversity and other potential pitfalls

Assessment Elements

• Weekly quizzes
  Every Seminar starts with a 10-25 minutes 10-question quiz to check if students mastered the compulsory readings for the class. These quizzes amount for 20% of the grade for the class.
• Presentation
  During the course students within a team will present their research papers so that others can discuss their projects in terms of theory proposed and methodology used and suggest possible improvements and corrections if needed. Presentation should take no more than 20 minutes. The working language is English. The presentation should contain: 1) Opening slide; 2) Topicality; 3) Prior research, or conventional wisdom; 4) Research problem and research question; Aim and tasks; 5) Methodology and methods; 6) Hypotheses; 7) Final or anticipated results of the analysis; 8) Limitations and discussion; 9) Closing slide. You may alter the sequence of the slides, if it is necessary for the logic of your presentation.
• Project
  The research project should include the full-cycle preliminary research on the topic of interest of the student team. Using Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), students will examine several cases to identify the conditions or combinations of conditions that lead the outcome(s) of their interest. The project should include the following elements: (1) Research Question and Problematics, (2) Literature Review, (3) Case Selection, (4) Data Collection Coding and Calibration, (5) QCA Analysis, (6) Interpretation of Results, (7) Limitations and Discussion
• Exam
  The exam takes the form of a test which covers the content of the course.

Interim Assessment

• 2024/2025 3rd module
  0.25 * Exam + 0.25 * Presentation + 0.25 * Project + 0.25 * Weekly quizzes

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Adrian Duşa. (2007). User manual for the QCA(GUI) package in R. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.CE9BC08A
• Schneider, C. Q. . (DE-588)1028374186, (DE-627)730622509, (DE-576)184542162. (2012). Set-theoretic methods for the social sciences a guide to qualitative comparative analysis Carsten Q. Schneider and Claudius Wagemann. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edswao&AN=edswao.362325634
• Schneider, C. Q., & Wagemann, C. (2012). Set-Theoretic Methods for the Social Sciences : A Guide to Qualitative Comparative Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=473253

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• 9780300251685 - Scott Cunningham - Causal Inference : The Mixtape - 2021 - Yale University Press - http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=2696419 - nlebk - 2696419
• Morgan, S. L., & Winship, C. (2007). Counterfactuals and Causal Inference : Methods and Principles for Social Research. New York: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=206937
• Rihoux, B., Marx, A., Benoît, R., Axel, M., Charles C., R., Priscilla, Á.-C., … Ingo, R. (2013). QCA, 25 Years after “The Comparative Method”: Mapping, Challenges, and Innovations—Mini-Symposium. Political Research Quarterly, 66(1), 167–235. https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912912468269

Authors

• Sorbale Aleksei Borisovich