Qualitative Comparative Analysis : An Introduction to Research Design and Application

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- List of Boxes, Figures, and Tables -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- 1 Qualitative Comparative Analysis in the Social Sciences -- What Is Qualitative Comparative Analysis? -- How to Use This Book -- The QCA Research Cycle -- A Brief History of QCA -- Trends in QCA Applications -- Outline of the Book -- Notes -- 2 Research Design -- Research Questions -- Uses of QCA -- Testing Hypotheses -- Case Selection -- Condition Selection -- Multimethod Research Designs -- A Survey of Empirical Applications -- Notes -- 3 Set Theory -- Crisp Sets and Fuzzy Sets -- Set Operations -- Truth Tables -- Necessary and Sufficient Conditions -- Assessing Set Relations -- Notes -- 4 Causation and Causal Complexity -- Theories of Causation in the Social Sciences -- Causal Complexity -- Causal Analysis -- Notes -- 5 Calibrating Sets -- Measurement and Calibration -- Calibration Procedures -- Types of Data -- The Direct Method of Calibration -- Applied Examples of Calibration -- Common Misconceptions about Calibration -- Good Practices for Calibration -- Notes -- 6 Measures of Fit -- Set-Theoretic Consistency -- An Example of Calculating Consistency -- Set-Theoretic Coverage -- An Example of Calculating Coverage -- Proportional Reduction in Inconsistency -- Relevance of Necessity -- Notes -- 7 Set-Theoretic Analysis -- Analyzing Necessary Conditions -- Truth Table Construction -- Truth Table Analysis -- Solution Terms -- An Illustration of Solution Terms -- Counterfactual Analysis -- Notes -- 8 QCA Variants -- Multivalue QCA -- Temporal QCA -- Two-Step QCA -- An Applied Example of Two-Step QCA -- Fuzzy-Set Ideal Type Analysis -- An Example of Fuzzy-Set Ideal Type Analysis -- Related Methods and Approaches -- Notes -- 9 QCA and Its Critics -- Analytical Robustness -- Comparisons with Other Methods.