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1. BELL, Jim, and Sharon LOANE. "Entrepreneurship Research in Europe:Innovative Methods in the Exploration of Internationalisation Issues.", 2003. 17 pp.

2. BOYER, Robert. "The Diversity of Labor Market Institutions Governing the "New Economy" Against Technological Determinism." Session “Labour Market and Human Resources”, SASE 2001 Meeting “Knowledge: the New Wealth of Nations?”: 2001.
Abstract: The paper combines an historical analysis of the American economy with a comparison of twenty OECD countries in order to assess the origin of the emerging growth regime and the basic institutions at the core of good macroeconomic performances during the 90’s. Whereas the American case may hint that product and labour market deregulation, venture capital and NASDAQ are necessary for the success of a technological led growth, the international comparison suggests the coexistence of at least three successful configurations. Deregulated economies explore a science pushed innovation, along with external labour flexibility, significant inequality in terms of competences. But social democratic countries develop a cooperative approach to the knowledge based economy: rather homogenous educational level, life long learning, negotiation by social partners of the consequence of innovation, collectively organized labour mobility. There is a third configuration for some catching-up economies that use information technology as a method for leapfrogging: labour markets remain largely institutionalised and regulated, without exerting adverse impact upon macroeconomic performance. By contrast, medium sized economies such as Germany, Italy and France are experiencing much more difficulties in reforming their labour market institutions to cope with the challenge of information and telecommunication technologies (ICT). This might be one of the reasons why, in these countries, many policy makers do think that they should emulate the typical market led capitalism institutions. The conclusion of the paper is that they should instead look for the achievements of European social democratic countries. This is specially attractive given the current state of European integration.

3. COVERDILL, James E., and William FINLAY. "Understanding Mills Via Mill-Type Methods : an Application of Qualitative Comparative Analysis to a Study of Labor Management in Southern Textile Manufacturing." Qualitative Sociology 18.4 (1995): 457-78.

4. CURCHOD, Corentin. "COMPASSS Working Paper 2002-3: La méthode comparative en sciences de gestion: vers une approche quasi-expérimentale de la réalité managériale.", 2002. 26p.
Abstract: =Cet article présente une méthode de recherche quasi-expérimentale: la méthode comparative quali-quantitative. Cette méthode permet de rendre compte de la complexité des phénomènes de gestion, comme les études de cas qualitatives, tout en offrant une technique de traitement de données fondée sur l'algèbre booléenne, qui rend possible, comme les méthodes statistiques, la généralisation des résultats au-delà des cas observés. Elle pousse à réconcilier les deux types d'approches dominantes en sciences de gestion, qualitatives et quantitatives, trop souvent en rupture, et encourage le chercheur à maintenir un dialogue constant entre les cas réels compris en profondeur et les idées issues de théories existantes. Nous discutons des opportunités nombreuses qu'offre la méthode comparative en science de gestion pour mieux comprendre les phénomènes de management, sans pour autant la placer au-dessus des autres méthodes ni la considérer comme révolutionnaire.

5. ---. "Exploring the Concept of Strategy of Intermediation Through a Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) of Cases." International Colloquium "Analyzing Strategic Change in Organizations: Innovative Methods for Management": 2004.

6. ---. "La méthode comparative en sciences de gestion: vers une approche quasi-expérimentale de la réalité managériale." Finance Contrôle Stratégie 6.2 (2003): 155-77.
Abstract: =Cet article présente une méthode de recherche comparative dépassant le classique clivage entre méthodes qualitatives et quantitatives: la méthode comparative quali-quantitative. Cette méthode vise à rendre compte de la complexité des phénomènes, par des études de cas qualitatives, tout en offrant une technique de traitement des données fondée sur l'algèbre booléenne, qui rend possible, comme les méthodes quantitatives, la généralisation des résultats au-delà des cas observés. Cette méthode de recherche est bien adaptée aux petites populations - c'est-à-dire à un nombre de cas entre 4 et 50 - ce qui est fréquent en sciences de gestion.

7. ---. "La méthode comparative en sciences de gestion: vers une approche quasi-expérimentale de la réalité managériale.", 2002.
Abstract: =Cet article présente une méthode de recherche quasi-expérimentale: la méthode comparative quali-quantitative. Cette méthode permet de rendre compte de la complexité des phénomènes de gestion, comme les études de cas qualitatives, tout en offrant une technique de traitement de données fondée sur l'algèbre booléenne, qui rend possible, comme les méthodes statistiques, la généralisation des résultats au-delà des cas observés. Elle pousse à réconcilier les deux types d'approches dominantes en sciences de gestion, qualitatives et quantitatives, trop souvent en rupture, et encourage le chercheur à maintenir un dialogue constant entre les cas réels compris en profondeur et les idées issues de théories existantes. Nous discutons des opportunités nombreuses qu'offre la méthode comparative en science de gestion pour mieux comprendre les phénomènes de management, sans pour autant la placer au-dessus des autres méthodes ni la considérer comme révolutionnaire.

8. CURCHOD, Corentin, and Alain JEUNEMAÎTRE. "Governance and Performance of Air Traffic Services Providers in Europe: What Lessons to Be Drawn From Benchmarking Techniques and Comparative Analysis?" 2nd ECPR General Conference, Section "Methodological Advances in Comparative Research : Concepts, Techniques, Applications", Panel "Assessing the Respective Potential of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), Fuzzy Sets and Other Techniques : Applications": 2003.
Abstract: European utilities have for long been vertically integrated and controlled by administrations and state owned companies. However, the introduction of liberalisation and separation between service provision and regulation, coupled with change of status of providers, has introduced a new rationale in the governance of utilities industry.
In that respect, the case of Air Traffic services is particularly illustrative. Many of the national providers have been separated from the administration and corporatised. Thus in Air Traffic Services, the governance of provision now ranges from pure state owned administration to independently regulated privatisation.
Making use of the data base (20 European service providers, 100 variables) different techniques can be applied (regression analysis, qualitative techniques, etc) to highlight the existing relationships between governance and performance and the weight of external factors.
The paper will aim at reviewing and making use of them (in particular Correlation vs. Charles Ragin Qualitative Comparative Analysis, QCA vs. Fuzzy sets, and fuzzy sets vs. TOSMANA method) illustrating how, from a unique set of data, different outcomes can be generated with regard to the existing relationships between performance and governance in the field of Air Traffic Services.

9. DRIDI, Chokri, and Geoffrey J. D. HEWINGS. "Sectors Associations and Similarities in Input-Output Systems: an Application of Dual Scaling and Fuzzy Logic to Canada and the United States.", 2002.
Abstract: Understanding the linkages in an input-output system has been addressed by various methods, but many focused on the identification of key sectors in the economy. Sonis et al. (1996) offered as a field of influence theory an alternative approach focusing on analytical importance of elements and combinations of elements. The first objective of this paper is to offer a complementary approach to the field of influence and the so-called 'Matrioshka principal' (Sonis and Hewings, 1990); the adopted approach seeks hierarchial associations (i.e. statistical dependence) between supply and demand in input-output system. The second objective of this paper is to examine the cluster structure sales and purchases profiles when the principle of 'excluded middle' is violated by the use of fuzzy sets. Both approaches are based on the data analysis technique known as dual scaling (Nishisato, 1980, 1994). Results of this approach will be applied to input-output tables of the US and Canada.

10. GREENBERG, Greg, Jeanine MOUNT, and William BRANDON. "Protecting Medicaid Mental Health Safety-Net Providers: Analysis of 29 States' Contracting Practices." 128th Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association (APHA): 2000.
Abstract: Concern about the viability of mental health "safety-net" providers has led many states to include protections for them in state Medicaid contracts with managed care organizations (MCOs). Most commonly states include contract provisions that encourage MCOs to include safety-net providers in their networks, thus protecting them from much of the competition associated with managed care. We used qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to examine the role of four aspects of state's public health care delivery systems in influencing whether Medicaid-MCO contracts had these provisions. QCA is based on the logic and techniques of Boolean algebra and allows one to identify the multiple and conjunctural causes of an event as well as the necessary and sufficient conditions for an event to occur. QCA is particularly helpful for examining situations with complex patterns of interactions among the specified conditions. Using QCA we examined (1) stakeholders' roles (consumers and providers participation in the design and monitoring of state health systems); (2) state political climate and public attitudes about government provision of health services; (3) insulation of mental health services from non-mental healthcare (measured by carve-out status and existence of an independent implementing mental health agency); (4) bargaining strength of MCOs vis-a-vie state Medicaid agencies. The last was investigated by examining such factors as the state's need for greater numbers of MCOs and what the state could provide MCOs in terms of market size and reimbursement. This analysis used multiple sources to obtain data for twenty-nine states.

11. GRIMM, Heike. "Entrepreneurship Policy and Regional Economic Growth. Exploring the Link and Theoretical Implications." Innovative Comparative Methods for Policy Analysis. Eds Benoît RIHOUX and Heike GRIMM. New York: Springer, 2006. 123-44.

12. GRIMM, Heike, and Robert GAMSE. ""Entrepreneurship Policy" and Regional Economic Growth. Exploring the Correlation." ESF Exploratory Workshop on "Innovative Comparative Methods for Policy Analysis. And Interdisciplinary European Endeavour for Methodological Advances and Improved Policy Analysis/Evaluation": 2004.

13. HAEGE, Franck M. "Constructivism, Fuzzy Sets and (Very) Small-N: Revisiting the Conditions for Communicative Actions ." COMPASSS Working Paper 2005-33.

14. ---. "Constructivism, Fuzzy Sets and (Very) Small-N: Revisiting the Conditions for Communicative Actions ." Journal of Business Research 60.3 (2007): 512-21.

15. HEIKKILA, Tanya, and Kimberley ISETT. "Groundwater Governance and Conjunctive Water Management in California: an Institutional Analysis." National Research Conference of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management: 2000.

16. HOEL, Alf Hakon. Performance of Exclusive Economic Zones: IDGEC Report (Institutional Dimensions of Global Environmental Change), 2000.

17. HYYRYLÄINEN, Esa. "Kvalitatiivinen analyysi Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) -menetelmällä [Qualitative analysis using Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA)]." Centre for Comparative Public Policy and Management Occasional Papers .3 (1997).

18. JACKSON, Gregory. "Toward a Comparative Perspective on Corporate Governance and Labour Management.", 2004. 41 pp.

19. KABWIGIRI, Charles. "Le design des systèmes de contrôle de gestion en contexte d'incertitude. Une étude empirique du cas des spin-offs académiques de haute technologie.". Université de Liège, 2006.

20. KALLEBERG, Arne L., and Stephen VAISEY. "Pathways to a Good Job: Perceived Work Quality Among the Machinists in North America." British Journal of Industrial Relations 43.3 (2005): 431-54.
Abstract: This paper examines the perceived quality of jobs held by a sample of members of the International Association of Machinists, a large union in North America. It is argued that useful insights can be obtained by examining the relationships between global and specific measures of job quality. We then compare two ways of linking them: the regression or correlational-causation approach and the configurational approach that regards jobs as 'bundles' of various characteristics. Our results suggest that there are various pathways by which workers may consider jobs to be 'good' but that job quality among the machinists is related especially to satisfaction with benefits, interesting work and autonomy.

21. KANGAS, Ollie. The Politics of Social Rights : Studies on the Dimensions of Sickness Insurance in 18 OECD Countries. Stockholm: Swedish Institute for Social Research, 1991.

22. ---. "The Politics of Social Security : on Regressions, Qualitative Comparisons, and Cluster Analysis." The Comparative Political Economy of the Welfare State. eds Thomas JANOSKI and Alexander M. HICKS. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. 346-64.

23. KING, Robert L., and Arch G. WOODSIDE. "Qualitative Comparative Analysis of Travel and Tourism Purchase-Consumption Systems." Tourism Analysis 5 (2000): 105-11.
Abstract: A purchase-consumption system (PCS) is the sequence of mental and observable steps a consumer undertakes to buy and use several products for which some of the products purchased lead to a purchase sequence involving other products. Some researchers recommend the use of qualitative comparative analysis (i.e., the use of Boolean algebra) to create possible typologies and then to compare these typologies to empirical realities. Possible types of streams of trip decisions from combinations of five destination options with six travel mode options and four accommodation categories, three accommodation brands, five within-area route options, and four in-destination area visit options result in 7200 possible decision paths. The central PCS proposition is that several decisions within a customer's PCS are dependent on prior purchases of products that trigger these later purchases. In this article, four additional propositions are presented for examination in future research. To examine the propositions and the usefulness of the PCS framework for tourism research, qualitative, long interviews of visitors to an island tourism destination (the Big Island of Hawaii) were conducted. The results include strong empirical support for the five propositions. Several suggestions for future research are offered.

24. KITCHENER, Martin, Malcolm BEYNON, and Charlene HARRINGTON. "Qualitative Comparative Analysis and Public Services Research: Lessons From an Early Application ." Public Management Review 4.4 (2002): 485-504 .
Abstract: This article introduces the qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) method, provides a detailed description of an early application in US public management research and draws lessons from the experience. In methodological terms, we show that QCA requires coding decisions that influence outcomes significantly and emphasize that this secondary data analysis technique be used in conjunction with primary methods in order to consider issues of process. The substantive findings from our application in a study of state-level barriers to policy diffusion indicate the potential of QCA as a systematic approach to the identification of linkages between causal factors that emerge as important to case study participants.

25. KITTEL, Bernhard. "Causes of Bargaining Trends in Industrial Relations: the Impact of Structural, Cyclical, and Political Factors in a Comparative Perspective." Conflicts and Consensus. Pluralism and Neocorporatism in New and Old Democracies at the Region. eds Samo KROPIVNIC, Igor LUKSIC, and Drago ZAJC. Ljubljana: Slovenian Political Science Association, 1997. 225-52.

26. KITTEL, Bernhard, Herbert OBINGER, and Uwe WAGSCHAL. "Wohlfahrtsstaaten im internationalen Vergleich. Politisch-institutionelle Faktoren der Entstehung und Entwicklungsdynamik." Der “gezügelte” Wohlfahrtsstaat: Sozialpolitik in Australien, Japan, Schweiz, Kanada, Neuseeland und den Vereinigten Staaten. eds Herbert OBINGER and Uwe WAGSCHAL. Frankfurt/M: Campus Verlag, 2000. 329-64.

27. KOGUT, Bruce. "The Transatlantic Exchange of Ideas and Practices: National Institutions and Diffusion." Les Notes de l'IFRI 26.3 (2000): 7-46.

28. KOGUT, Bruce, John Paul MACDUFFIE, and Charles C. RAGIN. "Prototypes and Strategy: Assigning Causal Credit Using Fuzzy Sets.", 2004. 59 pp.

29. ---. "Prototypes, Complements, and Fuzzy Work Practices: Assigning Causal Credit for Performance." Working Papers of the Reginald H. Jones Center, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania (2002): 63 pp.

30. LACEY, Rodney. "Creating Generalized Knowledge From Case Studies: a New Methodological Approach." The Strategic Management Society 21st Annual International Conference: 2001.
Abstract: Most strategic research is either specific case studies (N < 6), or generalizable quantitative studies (N > 100), because researchers lack methods for handling multiple case studies (N=10-50). This paper demonstrates a new methodology, based on boolean analysis, that can handle multiple case studies and simultaneously achieve tailored and generalizable models of strategic practice. Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) (Ragin, 1987) allows for systematic, statistical analysis of causal relationships when the number of cases would be too small for standard statistical tests, but when the complexity of data is too great for traditional qualitative approaches. This paper illustrates the effectiveness and utility of the multiple case method and QCA by showing how independent variables affect organizational innovation in 30 hypothetical but representative case studies.

31. LAROSE, Kristy D. "Factors Associated With National Olympic Success : an Exploratory Study.". Faculty of Kinesiology, University of New Brunswick, 1996.

32. LAROSE, Kristy D., and Terry R. HAGGERTY. "Factors Associated With Olympic Success : an Exploratory Study." European Association for Sport Management Congress: 1996.
Abstract: Little conclusive research has been reported in the area of national Olympic success and its contributing factors. Yet, sport organizations worldwide continue to spend large amounts of money in the quest for excellence in sport performance. Without a clear model of the influence of various factors on sport success, it is difficult for sport policy makers to understand the problem and to make rational allocations and long-range planning decisions about their sport delivery system. There have been many studies about this topic. Some of the variables identified by past research are noted in Appendix 1 (...).

33. LILIENTHAL, S., and Terry R. HAGGERTY. "Factors Associated With Microcomputer Use in Professional Organizations: a Qualitative Comparative Analysis." Annual Conference of the North American Society for Sport Management: 1993.

34. MCDONALD, William J. "The Qualitative Comparative Method: Creating International Consumer Segments From a Quantitative Analysis of Personal Interviews." Journal of Segmentation in Marketing 1.1 (1997): 23-40.
Abstract: (...) The work of such sociologists and anthropologists as Heise (1991), Huber and Garcia (1991), Miles and Huberman (1984), Ragin (1987), Richards and Richards (1991a, 1991b), Strauss and Corbin (1990), and Tesch (1990, 1991, 1992) are of particular interest because they have expanded the frontiers of qualitative research through their sophisticated analytical approaches. These innovative methods provide a conceptual and analytical foundation for a linkage between the traditionally disparate research approaches of qualitative and quantitative research. They also allow for the investigation of many cases (or interviews) and the assignment of those cases to segments. This article uses ideas from the aforementioned researchers to create and analyze consumer typologies in a global market context. The value of identifying segments from patterns of information in personal interviews versus the more traditional survey questionnaire approach is discussed. It proceeds by characterizing a segmentation building methodology for the quantitative analysis of qualitative information, describing software for segment creation, and creating examples of consumer typologies to illustrate the methodology.

35. MUNOZ, Lucio. "Beyond Traditional Sustainable Development: Sustainability Theory and Sustainability Indeces Under Ideal Present-Absent Qualitative Comparative Conditions.", 2004.

36. RAGIN, Charles C. "A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of Pension Systems." The Comparative Political Economy of the Welfare State. eds Thomas JANOSKI and Alexander M. HICKS. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. 320-45.

37. RAGIN, Charles C., and York W. BRADSHAW. "Statistical Analysis of Employment Discrimination : a Review and a Critique." Research in Social Stratification and Mobility 10 (1991): 199-228.

38. ROMME, A. G. L. "Self-Organizing Processes in Top Management Teams : a Boolean Comparative Approach." Journal of Business Research 34.1 (1995): 11-34.
Abstract: Studies of top management are scattered over a number of separate research traditions. In this study a model of self-organizing processes in top management teams is developed that may stimulate the dialogue between these
separate research traditions. This model builds on several theoretical ideas from the field of self-organizing systems, and starts from the logic of process theory (instead of variance theory). The second contribution of this
study is describing Boolean comparison as a rigorous method for testing process theories on the basis of qualitative evidence from case studies. In this respect, Boolean comparison may compensate for some of the weaknesses of the conventional approach to comparative case studies by systematically addressing a larger number of cases without forsaking complexity too much. In addition, Boolean comparison systematically structures the hind of dialogue between theory and evidence typically found in comparative case study research. The third contribution is exploring the opportunities and limits of Boolean comparison in the context of an empirical study of self-organizing processes in top management teams, based on the model described earlier. This application of the Boolean method suggests it is an effective analytical technique, as long as it not used mechanically but as an aid to interpretive analysis.

39. SCHRUM, Wesley, and Ivan CHOMPALOV. "A Typology of Multi-Institutional Collaborations in Science." History of Science Society Annual Meeting: 1998.
Abstract: The paper presents an attempt at constructing a typology of multi-institutional collaborations in science, focusing on such arrangements in the physical sciences. It examines the sociological aspects of the emergence, development, and relative success of cooperative arrangements that involve three or more organizations. Data from a long-term study of multi-institutional collaborations are used to typologize inter-organization formations in high-energy physics, space science, geophysics, ground-based astronomy, and a variety of other research fields. Using cluster analysis and qualitative comparative analysis, collaborative projects are characterized along several dimensions: magnitude, composition, organization, centralization and power, participation, communication patterns, inter personal and professional relations, data acquisition, and archival practices.

40. STATZ, Jochen. Entwicklungspotenziale der Nutzung von Nicht-Holz-Waldprodukten. Perspektiven für ein neues Handlungsfeld der forstlichen Entwicklungszusammenarbeit in Paraguay und Bolivien [Potenciales de desarrollo en la utilización de
productos no maderables del bosque. Perspectivas para un nuevo campo de acción de la Cooperación al Desarrollo
Forestal en Paraguay y Bolivia] [Non-timber forest products and development co-operation : perceptions and strategies of decision makers] TÖB FTWF-22d. Eschborn: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), 2000.
Abstract: (pp. 59 ff. : QCA) A PhD-study published recently at the University of Freiburg/Germany looks into potential benefits of NTFP-based forest use. In two South American countries it analyses how decision-makers involved in national development policy and international development co-operation perceive this potential. (...) For further analysis of the verbal data, a Qualitative Comparative Analysis was carried out, an analytical tool developed for comparative social science research by Ragin. As a result key features of strategies to promote NTFP trade were determined and then combined with each other. The interviewed experts saw a number of combinations as promising for the promotion of NTFPs, each being a very specific combination of the strategic elements listed above. Amongst them, economic success in the marketing of NTFPs appears to be crucial, yet only if accompanied by a political and economic setting committed to "sustainable development". The analysis of the verbal data reveals that none of the five approaches is seen as sufficient or necessary in itself for a successful promotion of NTFPs. All of them can lead to success if combined with certain other characteristics, yet can lead to undesirable results if combined with others. To cite an example, introducing NTFPs to international markets is not seen as beneficial per se. It is rather the specific combination with other approaches (in some cases even their absence) that is expected to result in societal development. [also available in Spanish at : http://www.gtz.de/toeb/pdf/TOEB_Potenciales_de_desarrollo_en_la_utilizacion_de_productos_no_maderables_del_bosque.pdf]

41. VEENIS, Else. "'Als het bedrijf er maar niet te veel last van heeft'. De invloed van het ouderschapsbeleid en de ouderschapscultuur van supermarkten en boekhandels op de combinatieproblemen van mannelijke en vrouwelijke werknemers met jonge kinderen ['As long as it isn't too much trouble for the firm'. The impact of family policy and family culture on employees with young children in supermarkets and book trade].". Universiteit Utrecht, 2000.

42. ZEKIC, Marijana. "Neural Network Applications in Stock Market Predictions. A Methodology Analysis.", 1998.


 

Last modified: 09-Oct-2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Benoît RIHOUX, Centre de Politique Comparée

Gisèle DE MEUR, Lab. de recherche en MAThématiques et sciences humaines Geert VAN HOOTEGEM, Afdeling Arbeids- en Organisatiesociologie Peter BURSENS, Onderzoeksgroep Internationale Politiek