Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) is a case-based research method for capturing causal complexity. It helps you identify how conditions combine to produce an outcome of interest, and whether different paths can lead to the same result.
If that sounds like your research, the Summer School in Social Sciences Methods at the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) in Lugano is a splendid place to learn the method. I have been teaching the one-week QCA course there since 2016, each time with an international group of participants from across the social sciences: most of them PhD researchers, joined by postdocs, senior researchers, and practitioners.
The course, Exploring Causal Complexity with QCA, is a full-time workshop that combines lectures, hands-on exercises in the R software environment, and individual consultations on participants’ own projects. Step by step, we follow the research process, from research design and set-theoretic foundations, through the calibration of empirical data, to the analysis and interpretation of results. The course is based on my textbook Qualitative Comparative Analysis: An Introduction to Research Design and Application (Georgetown University Press, 2021) and its freely available R Manual for QCA.
You don’t need any prior knowledge of QCA or R, but it is advisable to do some readings in advance and to install R beforehand. Preparatory materials are circulated ahead of the summer school, so everyone can hit the ground running.
The summer school celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2026. It is organised by USI in cooperation with FORS, the Swiss centre of expertise in the social sciences. In addition, the summer school is endorsed by MethodsNET, the Methods Excellence Network.
Each August, the summer school offers a range of full-time methods workshops in two week-long sessions, held on the USI campus in Lugano, near the lake. It is an intensive week, but a very sociable one, with plenty of opportunities to connect with researchers from other fields.
The next QCA course takes place on 17–21 August 2026, and registration is open. If you have questions about the course, or about whether QCA suits your project, feel free to contact me.
Impressions from previous years
