COMParative methods for the Advancement of Systematic cross-case analysis and Small-n Studies
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NEWS: training, meetings, publications
Didactics: Boolean algebra and QCA logic
CCM Textbook
Analysis and (fs)QCA software - applications
Psychology - education science
1. "Children's Agency and Identity.", 2001.
Abstract: Ethnic minority and low income youth are underrepresented in
the academic pipeline to college, although these youth and their families
value and actively pursue opportunities for higher education. One paper
examines students' strategies for attaining their educational and career
goals, including accessing personal, relational, and institutional resources.
Outreach programs in and outside schools build on strengths of students
who show initiative. In this study, application essays of 200 Mexican
descent students (average age, 12 years), all chosen for a community college
outreach program, were coded for their individual, relational, and institutional
strategies and career identities. Qualitative Comparative Analysis was
used to link individual cases with variable-based analyses. In their essays,
most students expressed college-based career goals and identities. Girls
and recent immigrants named fewer resources for obtaining their goals
and relied more on individual and relational thank institutional resources
than did boys and second generation youth. This work addresses how research,
policy, and program practices fostering diversity in higher education
can build on the strategies and strengths of immigrant youth.
2. BENNETT, Marguerite M. "Will They Stay or Will They Go? Exploring Student Retention: Demonstrating Logistic Regression and Qualitative Comparative Analysis." 40th Annual Association for Institutional Research (AIR) Forum: 2000.
3. BRITT, D. W. "Beyond Elaborating the Obvious: Context-Dependent Parent-Involvement Scenarios in a Preschool Program." Applied Behavioral Science Review 6 (1998): 179-97.
4. COOPER, Catherine. "Continuity and Change in Mexican Immigrant
Parents' Beliefs About Educación and the Path of Life.", 1999.
Abstract: Strengthening family-school partnerships remains an unmet priority
of school-based initiatives and academic outreach programs, which address
school retention and college attendance among Mexican descent students.
Thus far, these partnerships have been hampered by inaccurate or incomplete
information about Mexican immigrant parents. The proposed study addresses
three research questions: 1) What are the beliefs, goals, and guidance
strategies of Mexican immigrant parents about education as their children
move into adolescence? 2) How do parents' beliefs, goals and guidance
strategies for their two children differ and change over this transition?
3) How do children's academic performance and experiences in and outside
school during this transition play a role in changing parents' beliefs,
goals, and guidance? In the proposed 2-year longitudinal study, 30 Mexican
immigrant parents with at least two children, one in the last year of
elementary school and one in junior or senior high, will be interviewed
as their younger child is completing elementary school and again after
completing the first year of junior high. This longitudinal design spans
the years when many Latino students begin to experience academic difficulties.
Data analyses that link quantitative and qualitative approaches will be
conducted, including longitudinal case studies, prediction analysis, and
Qualitative Comparative Analysis. Findings will contribute to research,
policy, and practice designed to enhance the inclusiveness of family-school
partnerships during the challenging years from childhood to adolescence.
5. Cooper, Catherine R., et al. 2002.
6. DE GRAAF, Theo K. "From Hermeneutics to Empiricism: Extracting
Testable Research Hypotheses From the Study of Individual Cases.",
2001.
Abstract: There is increasing awareness of the lack of both comprehensiveness
and specificity of current psychiatric classification systems. Apparently,
the old Kraepelinian ideal of nosological entities characterised by the
same cause and the same optimal treatment, does not hold. Co-morbidity
constitutes a major obstacle for research as well as for evidence-based
treatment programs. The author proposes a “bottom-up” approach
with the help of multiple N=1 studies of individual cases sharing the
same behavioural, cognitive, and/or affective symptoms, in the vein of
Ragin’s method of qualitative comparison. In this way, possible
psychodynamic, psychotoxic, and genetic influences leading to psychopathology
can be mapped and built into hypotheses for subsequent quantitative research.
With the help of in-depth observations on a limited number of juvenile
delinquents, it can be shown that such a heuristic procedure may result
in the establishment of a causal-developmental profile. In comparison
with conventional diagnosis, such a causal-developmental profile matches
more closely the life experiences and inner world of the patient and will
therefore lead to more adequate treatment strategies.
7. DE GRAAF, Theo K. "From Hermeneutics to Empiricism: Transformation
of Psychodynamic Reasoning and Concepts into Testable Research Hypothesis.".
Universiteit van Tilburg (KUB), 2002.
Abstract: The starting point for this methodological study is the assumption
that one and the same psychiatric or psychosomatic (in brief: 'psychobiological')
disease, such as e.g. a depressive illness, may be brought about by more
than one 'causal chain' operating as a sufficient condition. In some of
these 'causal chains' psychotraumatic experiences - including transgenerationally
induced psychotoxic influences in the family of origin - may play the
role of a necessary condition, in addition to other necessary conditions
such as e.g. hereditary factors or physical birth trauma. Emotions which
ultimately give rise to psychobiological disorder may stem from undigested
traumatic experiences and conflicts in the individual's past, including
early childhood. The latter sensitize the individual to events in adu
lt life which in that person's perception exhibit a certain resemblance
or congruity with the original traumatic experience. Accordingly, the
intrapsychic representation of this early, undigested traumatic experience
is called Personal Sensitization Factor (PSF), and the precipitating,
or 'trigger', event is called the Congruent Life Event (CLE).
After having elaborated on the methodological problems connected with
the operationalization of these psychodynamic concepts and constructs,
and with qualitative multivariate research on anecdotal material in the
form of 'plural N=1 observations' for that matter, the author dwells upon
the principles of causality in individual biological systems. This leads
to a discussion of the concept of 'causal chain', and of the difference
between the principles of 'multiconditionality' and 'multicausality' in
pathogenesis.
With the help of a clinical example of a multivariate study of ten (hypothetical)
tuberculosis patients, the reader is then introduced to Ragin's method
of 'qualitative comparison' and to the methodology of 'multiple N=1 studies'.
The ensuing 'truth-tables', entirely basd upon binary data, can be analyzed
with the help of Boolean logic. This analysis yields clusters of causative
factors which, in turn, can be used as starting points for setting up
hypotheses and designs for multivariate case-control, or even epidemiological
studies. What is proposed here is, in fact, a qualitative paper-and-pencil
cluster analysis for small samples and for data which are entirely binary.
The foregoing both statistical and psychodynamic principles are applied
to an (imaginary) sample of sixteen bus drivers, some of whom had developed
an incapacitating depressive illness following an accident in which at
least one person had been killed. The PSF, figuring as a so-called 'latent
variable', was operationalized - at least partly - with the help of two
measurable 'indicator' variables, namely 'early loss of a parent or of
a close friend' and 'parent lost a child'. In 13 of the 16 cases (= 81.25%)
either presence or absence of depressive illness could be entirely accounted
for by respectively presence or absence of the aforementioned two indicator
variables.
8. DE GRAAF, Theo K. "Trauma and Psychiatry. The Role of Individual
and Transgenerational Traumatisation in the Causation of Psychobiological
Illness.". Universiteit van Tilburg (KUB), 1998.
Abstract: (...) Theo de Graaf tries to formulate a provisional answer
to this question by referring to the experience gained by himself and
others from the treatment of severely traumatised individuals. These may
be people who themselves have endured severe traumatic experiences, such
as internment in a concentration camp and/or the loss of close relatives;
bombardments, at the front, or as a civilian; the death of friends during
combat; incest or severe neglect as a child; &c.. A second group consists
of persons who have been secondarily traumatised and psychically damaged,
having been born to parents who themselves suffered some of the aforementioned
tragedies, and as a consequence were not able to bring up their children
in a healthy and loving manner. In this dissertation the family dynamics
and projective mechanisms underlying this so-called 'transgenerational'
traumatisation are extensively dealt with. With the help of clinical examples
and small studies of juvenile delinquents and patients suffering from
depressive and psychotic illness, as well as from auto-immune disease
(multiple sclerosis), the author presents a psychobiological causality
model which could explain the different ways in which psychotraumatic
and 'psychotoxic' experiences could eventually lead to a number of forms
of psychobiological illness. A separate chapter [Chapter IV] is dedicated
to the principles of multicausal and multiconditional causation in individual
biological systems, and to the methodological and statistical consequences
thereof for clinical research.
9. DYCHAWY-ROSNER, Irena, M. EKLUND, and A. ISACSSON. "Caring Dynamics
As Perceived by Staff Supporting Daily Occupations for Developmentally
Disabled Adults." Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences 15.2 (2001):
123-32.
Abstract: This study addresses the issue of what direct care staff experience
as a hinder or a help when supporting daily occupations among people with
mental retardation. The data was collected by means of a questionnaire
consisting of open-ended questions about the staff's perceived work experience.
The respondents (n=81), corresponding to 96% of all care staff employed
in a geographically defined care area in southern Sweden, worked with
various day activity units supporting the daily occupations of their clients.
An inductive method using qualitative comparative analysis and coding
paradigm described by Strauss have been used as approach for the elaboration
and the analysis of the data.
The results suggests that clinical actions are rooted in the dynarnic
relationship that exist between the respondents' perceived realities of
practice and their application. The staff´s experiences were captured
as a series of actions and reactions in a variety of ways involving relations,
interactions and interventions vis-a-vis their clients (the process of
practice). This process is based on two areas: the phases of support actions
and the dimensions of this support actions. The process of practice can
take the form of increasing or failing to develop of the staff´s
competence to create interventions with mentally retarded persons. For
example, when difficulties are experienced was a tendency to fix on certain
dimensions in the attitude of the staff, e.g. a negative and conflict-laden
pattern of communication. It was suggested that to develop the quality
of caregivers' interventions when supporting the daily activities of their
clients, effort should be put into the identification of the structures
embodied in the process of practice which increase the competence of staff.
10. ECHEVARRIA RAFULS, Silvia C. "Experiences of Family Violence: a Qualitative Comparative Analysis." Florida Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (FAMFT) Annual Conference: 1997.
11. GOTTCHEINER, Alain. "COMPASSS Working Paper 2003-17: Contradictions
and Their Use in Falsification: the Case of Comparative Linguistics and
QCA's Contribution.", 2003.
Abstract: Linguists searching about laws of phonetic changes make use
of the entire corpus at their disposal. By so doing, they find laws that
correctly describe observed changes, especially " splits ",
but can't be checked. Such a law may always be found if using enough parameters,
but doesn't guarantee a fair description. In a Popperian perspective,
we'd like to suggest working on a partial corpus, trying to establish
laws that correctly account for all matching multiplets considered, then
applying these assumed laws to the rest of the corpus ; if no counterexample
is found, the set of laws gains in credibility.
In this approach, QCA may be very useful, because it allows us to : 1)
consider all possible influences (position in the word, preceding and
following phoneme, umlaut/ablaut, position relative to stress, …)
as conditions ; 2) use contradictions as guides to the detection of influences
we forgot to use ; 3) modify the corpus and set of conditions at will
; 4) produce several laws, among which we may choose the most plausible
; 5) find implications that aren't seen at first glance.
12. ---. "Contradictions and Their Use in Falsification: the Case
of Comparative Linguistics [Using QCA]." 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: Linguists searching about laws of phonetic changes make use
of the entire corpus at their disposal. By so doing, they find laws that
correctly describe the changes observed, especially “splits”,
but can’t be checked. Such a law may always be found if using enough
parameters, but isn’t necessarily a fair description. In a Popperian
perspective, I’d like to suggest working on a partial corpus, trying
to establish laws that correctly account for all matching multiplets considered,
then applying these assumed laws to the rest of the corpus; if no counterexample
is found, the set of laws gains in credibility.
In this approach, QCA may be very useful, because it allows us to: 1)
consider all possible influences (position in the word, preceeding and
following phonem, umlaut/ablaut, position relative to stress, …)
as conditions; 2) use contradictions as guides to the detection of influences
we forgot to use; 3) modify the corpus at will; 4) produce several laws,
among which we may choose the most plausible.
13. GOTTCHEINER, Alain. "Une utilisation possible de QCA: la recherche de traits phonologiques discriminants.". ULB, Cahiers de questions et faits en discussion, 2002.
14. HAGGERTY, Terry R. "Unravelling Patterns of Multiple Conjunctural Causation in Comparative Research: Ragin's Qualitative Comparative Method." Journal of Comparative Physical Education and Sport 14 (1992): 19-27.
15. HUBER, Günter L., and Franz SCHRODI. "Logical Minimization
As a Tool for Research on Teacher Thinking." 9th Biennial Conference
of the International Study Association on Teachers and
Teaching (ISATT): 1999.
Abstract: This paper describes the method of logically minimizing the
various configurations of critical characteristics within the cases of
a study and grouping them into clusters according to general patterns
of features. Examples from studies on classroom discipline, active learning,
and teachers' explanations of learning problems in mathematics are presented.
16. INABA, Akihide. "Enzyo Koudou wo Sokusin/Yokusei suru Zyouken : Meta Bunseki heno Ouyou [Application of Boolean approach to Meta Analysis : Using Helping Behavior Data]." Shituteki Hikaku Bunseki [Qualitative Comparative Analysis]. eds Nobuo KANOMATA, Daishiro NOMIYA, and Keiji HASEGAWA. Kyoto: Mineruva Syobo, 2001. 130-47.
17. LAROSE, Kristy D. "Factors Associated With National Olympic Success : an Exploratory Study.". Faculty of Kinesiology, University of New Brunswick, 1996.
18. 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 (...).
19. LIEBERSON, Stanley, and Eleanor O. BELL. "Children's First Names : an Empirical Study of Social Taste." American Journal of Sociology 98.3 (1992): 511-54.
20. MASON, George P. "The Part-Time Sociology Instructor and the "Trap" of Adjunct Faculty Positions: an Investigation into the Differences Faced by Part-Time Instructors on Both Sides of the Ambassador Bridge." Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association 35th Annual Meeting: 2000.
21. MISUMI, Kazuto. "A Boolean Model of Role Discrimination."
Journal of Mathematical Sociology 26.1-2 (2002): 111-21.
Abstract: This paper analyzes, based on Boolean approach by C.C.Ragin,
how the subjective internal structures of social roles condition the possibility
of role discrimination. I postulate, in an individualfs image, a role
consists of some role elements, which construct an internal hierarchical
structure (role image) depending on each elementfs contribution to the
role discrimination as a whole. Then the role discrimination is formulated
as a Boolean equation, taking the role elements as independent variables
and the role discrimination itself as a dependent variable. Suppose a
role X, and a performer who has image Xf and an observer who has image
Xh communicate ea ch other. In general, between such two given actors,
X can be discriminated by an observer under the condition that XfXh equals
to Xh, or at least th at XfXh and Xh share one or more Boolean products;
however, X is never di scriminated otherwise. At first, I take a simple
case of two elements and examine the possibility of role discrimination
for all possible combinations of images. After that, some general propositions
as to the possibility of role discrimination, that hold regardless of
the number of role elements, are derived.
22. ---. "Two Levels of Dyscommunication: an Analysis by Boolean
Role Model
." 4th Conference of the Asia Pacific Sociological Association: Asia
Pacific Sociological Association, 2000.
Abstract: This paper analyzes, based on Boolean model of social role,
how the subjective internal structures of roles condition the dyscommunication
between actors. We postulate that a role consists of some role elements
in an individual¹s image. Suppose a role X, and also suppose a performer
who has image X¹ and an observer who has image X². In general,
X can be discriminated by an observer under the condition that X¹X²
equals to X², or at least that X¹X² and X² share one
or more Boolean sum of products. The first order dyscommunication occurs
when one or more role elements are not shared between subgroups of actors.
Taking a simple model of two elements, we examine the cases in which this
type of dyscommunication occurs. Even if each subgroup enrolls the different
elements in the definition of role X respectively, actors might be confronted
with the second order dyscommunication. Being a set of role elements commonly
shared among actors does not mean everyone have same type of image; so
that, the condition mentioned above may not be satisfied in some combinations
between types. We examine such cases based on the extended three elements¹
model. An implied situation of this study is intercultural communication,
as well as international marriage increasing in rural area of Japan.
23. MISUMI, Kazuto. "Two Levels of Dyscommunication: an Analysis
by Boolean Role Model
." Sociological Theory and Methods 16.2 (2001): 229-43.
24. MISUMI, Kazuto. "Yakuwari Riron Moderu [A Model of Role Theory]." Shituteki Hikaku Bunseki [Qualitative Comparative Analysis]. eds Nobuo KANOMATA, Daishiro NOMIYA, and Keiji HASEGAWA. Kyoto: Mineruva Syobo, 2001.
25. RANTALA, Kati. "Art As Communicative Practice for Teenagers." YOUNG - Nordic Journal of Youth Research 6.4 (1998).
26. ROMAIN, Patrick. "A QCA Analysis of the Influence of “Socio-Pedagogical”
Variables on “Value Transmission” by Mathematics Teachers
in Belgian French-Speaking High Schools." 2nd ECPR General Conference,
Section "Methodological Advances in Comparative Research : Concepts,
Techniques, Applications", Panel "QCA (Qualitative Comparative
Analysis) in Comparative Research: Applications": 2003.
Abstract: Mathematics courses are not only concerned with the transmission
of mathematical knowledge. Teachers value certain aspects of this knowledge,
rather than some others. For example, some will insist on abilities like
abstracting, conducting a logical reasoning, working intensively, …,
or on attitudes like precision, rigor, care.
This paper will explore how socio-pedagogical variables favor the teacher
broadcasting some of these “values”. Various conditions may
be taken into account. Some are internal to the teacher: he is motivated;
he has a long experience in mathematics teaching. Others are external:
pupils are disciplined; their families are comfortably off; the curriculum
is more or less intensive in mathematics. Our cases will be a small number
(~12) of high school teachers in Belgium (year 2002-2003). We carry out
a range of QCA analyses, involving given sets of condition variables and
several result (dependant) variables related to different aspects of the
values transmission.
27. SMILDE, David. "Who Commits? A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of Pentecostal Conversion in Caracas." Lecture at University of Notre Dame History Department: 2001.
28. ---. "Works of the Flesh, Fruit of the Spirit: Religious Action
Frames and Meaning Networks in Venezuelan Evangelicalism.". University
of Chicago, 2000.
Abstract: There are two recurring problems in the literature on Latin
American Evangelicalism. First, conversion is explained using a form of
functionalist explanation from results that both is not supported by contemporary
cultural theory and cannot adequately distinguish those who convert from
those who do not. Second, the political engagement of Latin American Evangelicals
has been seen as paradoxical and contradictory with some scholars arguing
that no consistent tendency can be discerned. This dissertation uses concepts
from the sociology of culture and social movements theory to work through
data from participant observation with Venezuelan Evangelicals, as well
as eighty-four life history interviews with Evangelical and non-Evangelical
men. The life history interviews with Evangelical men reveal that indeed
they largely converted as a means to overcome pressing problems with substance
abuse, violence and conjugal relationships. Evangelicalism functions as
“religious action frame” that orients and motivates action
that can overcome these problems. The data also reveal that men convert
in pursuit of these positive consequences. Existing theories of religion
rely on a realist theory of meaning that makes understanding such agency
difficult. Since only objectively valid beliefs can be used to bring about
desired consequences, such agency in religion has to be presented as knowledgeable
cynicism, unintelligent fluke, or as a process that works behind the actors’
backs. I suggest a pragmatic theory of meaning in which beliefs that are
not objectively valid in scientific terms can be held and used by actors
who only care about evidence of their practical effect.
I use Boolean algebra (Charles Ragin’s “qualitative comparative
analysis”) to compare cases of commitment with cases of non-commitment.
The analysis demonstrates that living with an Evangelical is a sufficient
cause of commitment. However, the numerically most important causal combination
is that of having serious life problems while not living with family of
origin. These conclusions underline the importance of meaning networks.
Having problems is important in most cases of commitment. But having the
opportunity to commit depends on being independent from family of origin
networks that reinforce traditional meanings, and or being in contact
with Evangelical networks through which meaning innovation can flow.
Conceiving of Evangelicalism as a frame containing an abstract symbolization
of supernatural agency at its center, but which does not necessarily contain
lower-level schemas consistently applying this symbolization to all areas
of life, can help us understand the variability in Evangelical politics.
While in areas of experience having to do with personal morality and the
family the Evangelical frame contains well articulated, lower-level schemas
that apply the abstract symbolization of supernatural agency to concrete
situations in consistent ways, in areas given less importance such as
politics, there are no well-articulated lower level schemas and individual
variation is the norm. However, when Evangelical morality or interests
are either openly embraced or openly threatened by a political option,
Evangelical leaders can actively mobilize their followers by presenting
well-articulated lower-level schemas containing the “correct”
application of the abstract symbolization of supernatural agency. In these
cases Evangelicalism can have an independent causal impact on political
processes.
29. TYRKKÖ, Arja. I skärningspunkten mellan arbetsliv och
föräldraskap. En studie om livsformer i 1990-talets Sverige
[The intersaction between working life and parenthood. A study of life-modes
in Sweden in the 1990s]. Arbete och Halsä Vetenskaplig Skriftserie.
Uppsala Universitet: Arbetslivsinstitutet, 1999.
Abstract: The central problem area of this dissertation concerns the connection
between working life and parenthood. The main purpose is to develop an
analytical strategy which validity is determined by the extent to which
it can consider and cover the complexity of the con-ditions and practices
of everyday life for working parents. Starting in an understanding of
the concept life-mode as a sensitizing concept, an analytical model is
developed and a Boolean approach is used to study the complex interrelation
between working life and parenthood. In the dissertation the relationship
between working life and parenthood is studied focusing on the work place.
Parenthood, organization and gender are three key concepts which direct
the analysis of the organizational forms everyday life take on.
Last modified: 24-Avr-2006
Benoît RIHOUX, Centre de Politique Comparée
Gisèle
DE MEUR, Lab.
de recherche en MAThématiques et sciences humaines
Afdeling
Arbeids- en Organisatiesociologie
Peter BURSENS,
Onderzoeksgroep
Internationale Politiek