This webinar begins with a short introduction to NCA, followed by a comparison of NCA and QCA and suggestions for using both techniques to complement one another.  The webinar will last approximately 1.5 hours (~60 minutes of presentation plus ~30 minutes of Q&A). To facilitate participants from different time zones, the webinar will be offered twice: NCA and QCA 1: Tuesday 26th January 9:00 (CET, Rotterdam Time) NCA and QCA 2: Tuesday 26th January 17:00 (CET, Rotterdam Time)

This course provides training on methods that enable a researcher to construct a solid and well-argued comparative research design (CRD) – any research enterprise that comprises at least two ‘cases’ or units of analysis.  We will cover multiple options, from very few cases (small-n) to multiple cases (intermediate-n) to many cases (larger-n), and in particular options that are QCA-compatible.  By the end of this course, you will be able to write up a well-constructed CRD section for your project and…

This course introduces you to Qualitative Comparative Analysis and fuzzy sets, and their application in the social sciences, using the R software environment.  It starts out by familiarising you with the basic concepts of the underlying methodological perspective, including formal logic, Boolean algebra, causal complexity, and calibration. From there, we move to the central notions of necessity and sufficiency, and discuss ways to analyse these using parameters of fit and visualisation techniques. The core of the course focuses on the…

This course will deepen your understanding of the potentials and pitfalls of set-theoretic methods. The skills you gain will enable you to be more critical and assertive if and when you choose or reject set-theoretic methods as the most appropriate research method for your research project. By the end of this course, you will be able to produce QCA studies of a quality and level of sophistication beyond the current mainstream and thus yield substantive results that are more compelling…

This 3-day introduces you to the nuts and bolts of QCA. It is structured in six session (each ½ days) covering the history of QCA, the logics of case selection and research designs, small-N QCA, large-N QCA, configurational research in management, and advanced topics in QCA. Throughout the course, we will also explore opportunities for you to use QCA for your own research. After the course, you should be familiar with the history of QCA and current advanced topics in…

Hosted by Regenstrief Institute, this intensive course offers health researchers a tailored approach to applying Coincidence Analysis (CNA). Part I of the Beginners-level Course on CNA begins with an intensive 3-day exploration of configurational comparative methods with a focus on Coincidence Analysis (CNA). Michael Baumgartner will guide participants through the the philosophical roots of regularity theories of causation,  search strategies, optimization algorithms, and measures of fit.  Following this 3-day workshop, the instructors will remain available for discussion to help participants with the…

Workshop contents and objectives This workshop gives a thorough introduction to the method of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), with an emphasis on research design and practical application. Since its inception (Ragin 1987), QCA has gained recognition among social scientists as a case-based research method that is ideally suited to capture causal complexity. This essentially describes a situation where an outcome results from multiple pathways and different combinations of conditions. Moreover, QCA entails a rigorous and systematic comparison of selected cases…