Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA)

Explaining the reception of the Code Napoleon in Germany: a fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis

by TT Arvind

Winner of the SLS Best Paper Prize 2009
(2010) 30 Legal Studies 1
Co-authored with Lindsay Stirton

This paper examines the diverse responses of the German states to the Code Napoleon at the beginning of the nineteenth... more This paper examines the diverse responses of the German states to the Code Napoleon at the beginning of the nineteenth century. These states differed both in the extent to which they adopted the Code, and the extent to which they retained the Code after Napoleon’s influence waned. In order to identify the causes of adoption and retention of the Code, we use fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). This method is now well established in comparative research in the social sciences but has been little used in comparative legal analysis. We find the following to be among the conditions relevant to the reception of the Code: territorial diversity, control by Napoleon, central state institutions, a feudal economy and society, liberal (enlightented absolutist) rule, nativism among the governing elites and popular anti-French sentiment. The paper also serves to demonstrate the potential of fsQCA as a method for comparative lawyers.

Solving contradictory simplifying assumptions in QCA: presentation of a new best practice

by Tom Delreux

Delreux T., Hesters D. (2010), Solving contradictory simplifying assumptions in QCA: presentation of a new best practice, Louvain-la-Neuve, Compasss, http://www.compasss.org/files/WPfiles/Delreux2010.pdf.

The EU negotiates multilateral environmental agreements: explaining the agent's discretion

by Tom Delreux

Delreux T. (2009), 'The EU negotiates multilateral environmental agreements: explaining the agent’s discretion' in Journal of European Public Policy, 16(5): p. 719-737.

Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) in Public Policy Analysis: An Extensive Review

by Damien Bol

Rihoux, B., I. Rezsöhazy, and D. Bol. 2011. "Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) in Public Policy Analysis: An Extensive Review", German Policy Studies, 7(3): 9-82.

This article provides a first systematic review of the connection between public policy analysis and QCA (Qualitative... more This article provides a first systematic review of the connection between public policy analysis and QCA (Qualitative Comparative Analysis) techniques, with an emphasis on the state-of-the-art in QCA empirical applications. QCA is first presented both as an approach and as a set of techniques (crisp-set, multi-value and fuzzy-set QCA), both of which feature specific characteristics. In a second section, it is argued that there is a preferential connection between QCA and public policy analysis: in terms of research design and also in terms of the actual goals and needs of policy-oriented research. Further, the bulk of the article contains an exhaustive survey of empirical applications published so far. To do so, a typology of applications is developed along two dimensions: the stages in the policy process (from agenda-setting and policy initiation to policy evaluation) and the level at which the ‘cases’ or units of analysis are empirically defined (from micro to macro). A total of 143 applications are surveyed, gathered in 16 clusters according to the two dimensions in the typology. For all these applications, the focus is laid on the concrete ways in which QCA has been exploited, with short indications on the research questions and research results. In conclusion, the achievements reached so far, as well as some remaining limitations, are discussed. Some of the most promising avenues for further research are also sketched, in terms of ‘mixed’ methods designs, causal mechanisms, ‘casing strategies’, and unexploited ‘niches’ both in terms of levels of analysis and stages of policy processes.

Beyond the Romantic Impulse for Authentic Data to Coconstruction of Meaning in Interview-based Educational Research

by Gavin Melles

Qualitative Research Journal 5(2), 2005

Qualitative interviewing places emphasis on obtaining authentic data about respondent’s subjective worlds through... more Qualitative interviewing places emphasis on obtaining authentic data about respondent’s subjective worlds through establishing rapport and empathy using strategies of researcher sensitivity with participants. Active interviewing suggests more attention should be paid to the coconstruction of meaning in the interview and qualitative researchers influenced by the discourse analytic tradition have directed attention to language and its constitutive role in producing such meanings. A dual consideration of the coconstruction of meaning enhanced by a discourse analytic focus on the language of representation is a potentially fruitful methodological fusion, which I explore here. In this paper I give examples from a recent focus group interview study of international student learning (Melles, 2004b), and in-depth interviews with ESL teachers (Melles, 2004a), which exemplify the constitutive role of language and the collaborative production of meaning in interviews.

Democracy Unpacked: A Fuzzy-Set Analysis of Institutions, Partisanship, and War Participation

by Patrick Mello

Canadá-Tailandia: análisis comparativo de políticas públicas. Las autopistas de la información como resultado de las luchas políticas en el contexto de la …

by Caroline Caron

Se presentan en este artículo los resultados de un análisis comparativo de políticas públicas relacionadas con las... more Se presentan en este artículo los resultados de un análisis comparativo de políticas públicas relacionadas con las autopistas de la información. La hipótesis planteada tenía como objetivo la comprobación de la teoría que afirma que la globalización favorece la homogeneización de las políticas públicas. Se escogieron como unidades de análisis Canadá y Tailandia, por la existencia de una diferenciación suficientemente acentuada entre ambos países para posibilitar la verificación de la hipótesis.

ANALIZĂ COMPARATĂ A SISTEMELOR DE EVALUARE A PROGRAMELOR EDUCAŢIONALE

by Florin Carbunarean

Explaining the Reception of the Code Napoleon in Germany: A Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis

by Lindsay Stirton

Co-authored with T T Arvind; published in Legal Studies, January 2010; winner of the 2009 Society of Legal Scholars Best Paper Prize

This paper examines the diverse responses of the German states to the Code Napoleon at the beginning of the nineteenth... more This paper examines the diverse responses of the German states to the Code Napoleon at the beginning of the nineteenth century. These states differed both in the extent to which they adopted the Code, and the extent to which they retained the Code after Napoleon's influence waned. In order to identify the causes of adoption and retention of the Code, we use fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). This method is now well established in comparative research in the social sciences but has been little used in comparative legal analysis. We find the following to be among the conditions relevant to the reception of the Code: territorial diversity, control by Napoleon, central state institutions, a feudal economy and society, liberal (enlightented absolutist) rule, nativism among the governing elites and popular anti-French sentiment. The paper also serves to demonstrate the potential of fsQCA as a method for comparative lawyers.

Byrne, D. and Uprichard, E., (2007) 'Crossing levels: The potential for numerical taxonomy and fuzzy set approaches to studying multi-level longitudinal change', Methodological Innovations Online, 2, 1.

by Emma Uprichard

This article demonstrates how we might explore trajectories of complex systems through time when we are dealing with... more This article demonstrates how we might explore trajectories of complex systems through time when we are dealing with multiple levels of systems with intersecting causal propensities. Using ‘social exclusion’ as an illustrative example, the objective is to develop a methodological approach, using available secondary data sources, that transcends the linear and uni-directional faults of conventional multi-level modelling. This alternative approach consists of a sequential combination of cluster analysis, tallying, documentary analysis and qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). The authors argue that this alternative methodology allows for both a descriptive and causal explanation of change and continuity within and between multiple levels of observation, whilst also stressing the importance of context and the possibility of all configurations of change and continuity within and between the different levels to be considered.