As part of a rich case-based and comparative methods course program at its Summer School hosted by the Central European University in beautiful Vienna, MethodsNET offers the course Introduction to Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), taught by Nena Oana. This 5-day intensive in person course introduces Qualitative Comparative Analysis as an approach and a technique, its main assumptions, its standard procedures and operations, and the technical environment (R software and packages) used for its application. QCA enables researchers to model causal complexity by analyzing whether different configurations of conditions are necessary or sufficient for an outcome, based on a formalized comparison of intermediate to large numbers of cases. Throughout the course, emphasis is put on a thorough understanding of the formal logic of set-theoretic methods and QCA, including topics such as Boolean algebra, causal complexity, sets and their calibration, necessity, and sufficiency. The course also discusses the logic and analysis of truth tables and the most important problems that emerge when this analytical tool is used for exploring social science data. Right from the beginning, participants are exposed to performing set-theoretic analyses with the relevant R software packages using data from published applications in the social sciences. Full course details here.

The MethodsNET Summer School (30+ courses offered) stands for top-pedagogy hands-on methods training, while staying affordable. The weekly course fee also gives access to a free plenary program of cross-cutting short courses. Beyond the course, MethodsNET membership also provides access to the multimedia digital ‘MethodsNET Communities’, in particular the ‘Case-based and comparative approaches’ Community that enables users and experts to communicate and collaborate.