Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA)

Methods Course at the 23rd Swiss Summer School in Social Science Methods

From August 19-23, 2019 I taught a one-week intensive course on Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), organized by FORS, the Swiss Foundation for Social Science Research and the Università della Svizzera Italiana in beautiful Lugano, Switzerland.

The course drew on my textbook Qualitative Comparative Analysis: Research Design and Application, under contract with Georgetown University Press.

From the course description: “The course provides participants with a thorough introduction to Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), both as a research approach and as a data analysis technique. In recent years, this set-theoretic method has gained recognition among social scientists as a methodological approach that holds specific benefits for comparative studies. The course begins by familiarizing participants with the foundations of set theory and the basic concepts of the methodological approach of QCA, including necessary and sufficient conditions, Boolean algebra, and fuzzy logic. The next step is devoted to the calibration of empirical data into crisp and fuzzy sets. Once these essentials are in place, the course moves on to the construction and analysis of truth tables as the core of the QCA procedure. Here, we will also spend time to discuss typical challenges that arise during a truth table analysis, and techniques to overcome such problems. Finally, the course will introduce consistency and coverage as parameters of fit, as well as additional measures to assess the robustness of QCA results.

Besides the technical introduction of QCA and its variants, the course will provide opportunities to discuss general aspects of comparative research design, including criteria for concept building and case selection, and data-related issues. Participants will be given the opportunity to present their own work and to receive individual feedback on their projects.

Throughout the course, participants will conduct set-theoretic analyses within the R software environment (packages “QCA” and “SetMethods”). The software will be introduced on the first day and used for exercises and examples throughout the course, so that participants gain a level of proficiency that enables them to conduct their own QCA analyses upon the completion of the course. Participants are encouraged to bring their own qualitative and/or quantitative data for course exercises (if available, preliminary data is fine). In addition, datasets from published studies will be made available and used for in-course exercises.”

47th ECPR Joint Sessions of Workshops at UCL Mons, Belgium

From 8-12 April 2019, UCL Mons hosted the 47^th ECPR Joint Sessions of Workshops. I took part in the workshop “Formal and Informal Intergovernmental Organisations in Time: Explaining Transformations in Global Governance”, chaired by Eugénia Heldt (TU Munich) and Duncan Snidal (University of Oxford). The three-day workshop featured 22 research papers from 27 contributors from the USA, Australia, and all across Europe.

Our research team presented first empirical results from the ongoing DFG project “International Bureaucracies as ‘Runaway Agents’? How Organizational Structure Affects Agency Slack” (2018-2021, grant volume 488.000 €), based on a paper co-authored with Eugénia Heldt, Omar Ramon Serrano Oswald, and Anna Novoselova (all from the Bavarian School of Public Policy, TU Munich).

Details on the DFG research project can be found here. For Information on the ECPR Joint Sessions in Mons see this link.

60th Annual Convention of the International Studies Association, 27-30th March 2019, Toronto

At the Annual Convention of the ISA in Toronto, I have three program appearances. I contribute a paper  [PDF] to a panel on “Democratic Alliance Reliability and the Global Coalition Against the Islamic State“, chaired and organized by Justin Massie, with Olivier Schmitt as discussant. The panel includes papers from Marina E. Henke, Rasmus Brun Pedersen, Yf Reykers, Jonathan Paquin, Stéfanie von Hlatky, and Justin Massie  – a great lineup of scholars, many of which also contributed to our CSP Special Forum 2019 on “The Politics of Multinational Military Operations“, which I co-edited with Steve Saideman.

I also take part in the second installment of the “Methods Café: Foreign Policy Analysis – Methods and Approaches“. At ISA 2018 in San Francisco the methods café was nominated as ISA Innovative Panel and due to the popularity of the format Marijke Breuning, Falk Ostermann, and I decided to submit a similar panel for ISA Toronto.

We are honored to have an excellent lineup of scholars for the Methods Café, including Klaus Brummer, Rose McDermott, Stephen Benedict Dyson, Stefano Guzzini, Ted Hopf, Mark Schafer, Burcu Bayram, and Soumita Basu join us for the Methods Café! The café brings together scholars that represent diverse methods and approaches in foreign policy analysis. The format provides an informal setting where participants can meet panelists at separate tables to discuss methods-related questions. Please join us for the methods café!

Finally, I am part of a roundtable on “Teaching Foreign Policy Analysis at the Undergraduate Level“, chaired and organized by Baris Kesgin. We will be joined by Marijke Breuning, Ozgur Ozdamar, Cristian Cantir, Raul Salgado Espinoza, Jeffrey Lantis, Kai Oppermann, Nicolas Blarel, Bertjan Verbeek, and Akan Malici to discuss our approaches to teaching FPA and the practicalities of classroom settings. The roundtable is sponsored by the Foreign Policy Analysis section of the International Studies Association.

The conference website for ISA Toronto 2019 can be found here. There is even an official welcome letter from PM Justin P.J. Trudeau!

Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) in Lugano

Methods Course at the 23rd Swiss Summer School in Social Science Methods

From August 19-23, 2019 I will be offering a one-week intensive course on Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), organized by FORS, the Swiss Foundation for Social Science Research and the Università della Svizzera Italiana in beautiful Lugano, Switzerland.

The course will draw on my textbook Qualitative Comparative Analysis: Research Design and Application, under contract with Georgetown University Press.

From the course description: “The course provides participants with a thorough introduction to Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), both as a research approach and as a data analysis technique. In recent years, this set-theoretic method has gained recognition among social scientists as a methodological approach that holds specific benefits for comparative studies. The course begins by familiarizing participants with the foundations of set theory and the basic concepts of the methodological approach of QCA, including necessary and sufficient conditions, Boolean algebra, and fuzzy logic. The next step is devoted to the calibration of empirical data into crisp and fuzzy sets. Once these essentials are in place, the course moves on to the construction and analysis of truth tables as the core of the QCA procedure. Here, we will also spend time to discuss typical challenges that arise during a truth table analysis, and techniques to overcome such problems. Finally, the course will introduce consistency and coverage as parameters of fit, as well as additional measures to assess the robustness of QCA results.

Besides the technical introduction of QCA and its variants, the course will provide opportunities to discuss general aspects of comparative research design, including criteria for concept building and case selection, and data-related issues. Participants will be given the opportunity to present their own work and to receive individual feedback on their projects.

Throughout the course, participants will conduct set-theoretic analyses within the R software environment (packages “QCA” and “SetMethods“). The software will be introduced on the first day and used for exercises and examples throughout the course, so that participants gain a level of proficiency that enables them to conduct their own QCA analyses upon the completion of the course. Participants are encouraged to bring their own qualitative and/or quantitative data for course exercises (if available, preliminary data is fine). In addition, datasets from published studies will be made available and used for in-course exercises.”

Please note that the course is limited to 10-12 participants and will fill on a first come, first served basis. More information & the course registration can be found here.

Do not hesitate to contact me, should you have any questions about the course!

Methoden der Außenpolitikanalyse: Ansätze, Daten und Perspektiven

Workshop der DVPW-Themengruppe „Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik“

Call for Papers (PDF)

Die theoriegeleitete Außenpolitikforschung hat sich auch im deutschsprachigen Raum als eigenständiges Feld innerhalb der politikwissenschaftlichen Disziplin Internationale Beziehungen etabliert. Aus methodologischer Sicht fehlt bislang jedoch eine eingehendere Auseinandersetzung mit vorhandenen Ansätzen, zugrundeliegenden Daten und Entwicklungsperspektiven zur Erforschung von Außenpolitik.

Für welche Forschungszwecke sind welche methodischen Ansätze geeignet und was sind die Voraussetzungen für deren Anwendung? Mit welchen qualitativen und quantitativen Daten arbeitet die Außenpolitikanalyse und wie wirkt sich die technologische Entwicklung auf die Datengewinnung aus? Und welche Perspektiven bestehen für die weitere Entwicklung des vorhandenen Methodenspektrums?

Im Rahmen eines zweitägigen Workshops am 26. und 27. September 2019 an der Universität Erfurt soll diesen Fragen nachgegangen werden. Wir suchen hierzu grundlegende Beiträge zu etablierten und neueren Ansätzen und Methoden und deren Anwendung auf außenpolitische Fragestellungen. Darüber hinaus begrüßen wir auch Beiträge, welche die Vor- und Nachteile bestimmter Methoden vergleichend analysieren, sich mit Fragen der Datenerhebung und Datenanalyse auseinandersetzen, oder welche die methodologische Praxis innerhalb der Disziplin kritisch beleuchten.

Die Veröffentlichung einer Auswahl an Beiträgen ist in einem deutschsprachigen Publikationsformat geplant. Dies soll zum Abschluss des Workshops erörtert werden. Nach Zusammenstellung des Programms beabsichtigen wir die Einwerbung von Drittmitteln zur Finanzierung von Reise- und Übernachtungskosten der Workshop-TeilnehmerInnen.

Wir bitten um Einsendung von Abstracts (max. 250 Wörter) mit kurzen biografischen Angaben bis zum 31. Januar 2019 an aussenpolitik2019@mailbox.org.

Der Workshop ist eine Veranstaltung der Themengruppe „Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik“ (@dvpw_aussenpol) der Deutschen Vereinigung für Politikwissenschaft (DVPW).

Die Organisatorinnen und Organisatoren des Workshops sind Hilde van Meegdenburg (Universiteit Leiden), Patrick A. Mello (Universität Erfurt) und Falk Ostermann (Universität Gießen).