Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA): Principles and Application
***Please note that registration closes on 25 May ***
In this lecture we look at the principles of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) and how it works in an applied example of internet shutdowns during elections in Sub-Saharan Africa (Freyburg and Garbe 2018). QCA, a set-theoretic method developed by the American Sociologist Charles Ragin in the 1980s, helps scholars to study causal complexity among cases and identify necessary and/or sufficient combinations of conditions for an outcome. It can be a useful tool to combine systematic case comparison with in-depth analysis of individual cases in theory-evaluating or more exploratory, nested research designs. We discuss the assumptions underlying the method and the kinds of research questions it can (not) address. The results of a systematic review of empirical QCA studies illustrate good practices as well as areas where applied QCA still lags behind the considerable methodological innovations of recent years.
Date: 27 May 2021, 15:00 (Thursday, 5th week, Trinity 2021)
Venue: Zoom- See below for registration details
Speaker: Dr Eva Thomann (Department of Politics and Public Administration University of Konstanz)
Organising department: Department of Social Policy and Intervention
Organiser: Dr Mark Fransham (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address: communications@spi.ox.ac.uk
Host: Dr Mark Fransham (University of Oxford)
Part of: Modern methods in social policy and intervention research
Booking required?: Required
Booking url: https://forms.office.com/r/7YhuX8J1rY
Booking email: communications@spi.ox.ac.uk
Cost: FREE
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Lani Fukada