The origins, development, and application of Qualitative Comparative Analysis: the first 25 years

Abstract

A quarter century ago, in 1987, Charles C. Ragin published The Comparative Method, introducing a new method to the social sciences called Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). QCA is a comparative case-oriented research approach and collection of techniques based on set theory and Boolean algebra, which aims to combine some of the strengths of qualitative and quantitative research methods. Since its launch in 1987, QCA has been applied extensively in the social sciences. This review essay first sketches the origins of the ideas behind QCA. Next, the main features of the method, as presented in The Comparative Method, are introduced. A third part focuses on the early applications. A fourth part presents early criticisms and subsequent innovations. A fifth part then focuses on an era of further expansion in political science and presents some of the main applications in the discipline. In doing so, this paper seeks to provide insights and references into the origin and development of QCA, a non-technical introduction to its main features, the path travelled so far, and the diversification of applications.

Governança e capacidades estatais: uma análise comparativa de programas federais

“…O QCA se utiliza da teoria dos conjuntos e da álgebra booleana para comparar diferentes configurações de casos e identificar padrões de associação entre condições (variáveis independentes) e resultados (variáveis dependentes) (Marx, Rihoux & Ragin 2013) 7 .…”

Do Labour Rights Matter for Export? A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of Pineapple Trade to the EU

“…Moreover, QCA is especially appropriate for small to medium n-samples where regressions are problematic (Marx, Rihoux, & Ragin, 2014). We do not focus on worldwide bilateral trade flows (exports and imports between all countries in the world) as in gravity models.…”

“…It is true that regression analysis can also account for a combination of conditions through interaction terms, but the interpretation is less straightforward than in QCA and the number of interaction terms that can be included is limited (Vis, 2012). QCA cannot simply be substituted by an interaction-based regression model, because it is hard to deal with many high order interaction terms without violating statistical assumptions (Marx et al, 2014). Even with interactions, regression models are insensitive to the differences between necessity and sufficiency (Grofman & Schneider, 2009, p. 669;Vis, 2012, p. 173).…”

Negative capability? Measuring the unmeasurable in education

“…The negative capability of measuring the unmeasurable has sometimes been linked with a more nuanced approach to method, which seeks to go beyond the divides between quantitative and qualitative approaches. Qualitative Comparative Analysis is emerging as a methodology which complements established quantitative and qualitative methods in education, because it seeks to look at relationships of causation, rather than more abstract kinds of connection (Marx, Rihoux, and Ragin 2014). Realist evaluation is a theory-based evaluation approach that investigates how and why particular programmes work or do not work, for whom, and in what circumstances (Pawson and Tilley 1997).…”