07 Qualitative Methods - QCA Flashcards
“A configurational analysis of ethnicprotest in Europe”
(1) Read the introduction: What is the research question?
Why do some politically organised (ethnic) groups protest while others do not? And the question is aimed to be answered by the examination of the configurational nature of protest mobilisation by the analysis of the conditions for the political mobilisation of ethnic groups.
(2) Read “A theory of protest mobilization”.
(2.1) Why do the authors argue that “collective mobilization is assumed to be configurational” (p. 301)? What are the consequences of this idea about “configurational collective mobilization” for the research methodology?
The authors make the argument that “collective mobilisation is assumed to be configurational” based on the strength of the collective and on the grievances of the collective that influence their actions regarding mobilisation. Based on Gurr, the authors make use of five factors they deem to be relevant in order to measure the configuration that either triggers mobilisation or not. These factors are listed as the following: opportunity, capacity, incentive, and values of identity.
(2.2) The authors discuss five different conditions, which they - based on previous research - assume to be related to ethnic protest. What kind of assumptions do the authors make about the association between these five conditions and ethnic protest? You may want to summarize everything in table-format, for example:
Level of democracy:
Unlikely a necessary condition for protests, as both strong and weak democracies can lead to weak and strong protest, depending on the circumstances.
The democracy level is part of a more complex configuration of sufficient conditions in relation to the possibilities of a weak or strong protest. It is Unnecessary but sufficient
Ethnic fractionalisation:
It is not a necessary condition for a weak or strong protest.
It is a sufficient condition for a strong protest, lack thereof leads to a weaker protest. It is Unnecessary but sufficient.
Territorial concentration:
A dispersed group will necessarily lead to a weak protest, as there is not enough manpower to mobilise and logically, a strongly concentrated group can only generate a strong protest.
It is a sufficient condition for strong protest, the strong togetherness in an area shared by the same group shapes the identity. It is Necessary and sufficient.
Political discrimination:
Not necessary, although it can have a large effect, strong protests can occur without political discrimination.
It is a sufficient condition as discrimination, grievances and tensions are likely to lead to perceived political injustice and thus to a stronger protest. It is Unnecessary but sufficient.
National pride:
Weak national pride is, likely, not a necessary condition for a strong protest.
Weak national pride weakens national unity and is a sufficient condition for a strong protest.
It is Unnecessary but sufficient
Read “Analysis-Necessary conditions”. Ignore all the technical language, and just summarize the authors’ main findings regarding necessary conditions for ethnic protest.
Territorial concentration is a quasi-necessary condition for a very strong protest as the masses are needed in order to make a meaningfully strong protest and therefore the capacity to organise depends on the territorial concentration of the ethnic group. A necessary condition for a weak protest is a strong national pride of the ethnic group due to a sense of belonging.
Read “Analysis-Sufficient conditions for strong protest”. Ignore all the technical language, and just summarize the authors’ main findings regarding sufficient conditions for strong protest
The first relevant observation is like mentioned in the previous part, regarding the national pride of the ethnic group. This refers to the minority’s feelings towards the state they live in and if their sense of belonging to the state they are governed by, their national pride, is weak then a sufficient condition for a strong protest is met. The territorial concentration is a quasi-necessary factor for a strong protest. Political discrimination is not a sufficient condition for a strong protest, based on the authors’ observation regarding Basques in Spain, Roma in Bulgaria and Greeks in Albania. The authors regard the last two variables, the level of democracy and ethnic fraternisation as neither necessary nor sufficient for a strong protest.
QCA is based on a set theoretical (“Mengentheorie”) understanding of social phenomena. Which three conditions, according to Schneider and Wagemann, are characteristics for the set-theoretical approach?
1) Set membership score
As part of a research, certain research objects are differentiated by being categorised. If the research object is a member of the category, it is to be scored with 1, and if it is not it is to be scored with a 0. However, there is also the aspect of “fuzziness” which is used for research objects that are between 0 and 1 as they are somewhat neither 0 but not also a full 1.
QCA is based on a set theoretical (“Mengentheorie”) understanding of social phenomena. Which three conditions, according to Schneider and Wagemann, are characteristics for the set-theoretical approach?
2) Set theoretical relations
The relations are differentiated by the differences between each groups. The example used by the authors are about Green Party voters and users of renewable energy. In this example the authors differentiate about the relations between three groups that are Green Party voters and use renewable energy, those who do not vote for the Green Party but use renewable energy and the last group that are neither Green Party voters nor are users of renewable energy. In this constellation, the Green Party voters are all users of renewable energy while users of renewable energy are not necessarily all Green Party voters. This makes the Green Party voters a fraction of renewable energy users.
QCA is based on a set theoretical (“Mengentheorie”) understanding of social phenomena. Which three conditions, according to Schneider and Wagemann, are characteristics for the set-theoretical approach?
3) Analysis of set theoretical approaches
Finally, we are able to interpret the research. Regarding the previous requirement, we are able to state that Green Party voters necessarily have to use renewable energy while voting for the Green Party is a sufficient condition for users of renewable energy.
(2) What is the philosophical understanding of the relationship between conditions and outcomes in QCA (in contrast to, for example, regression analysis)?
QCA allows the author to make valid interpretations based on causality and interactive relations of the research objects. It further allows a systematic comparative analysis of complex cases as long as they are able to be configured. Therefore it is possible to use larger data bases with higher numbers of cases and more independent variables without neglecting the focus on qualitative research. Compared to regression analysis, QCA is not homogeneous regarding event patterns but it is regarding equifinality. In QCA it is assumed that different paths (e.g. different variables) can lead to the same outcome.
(3) Based on the description given in the introduction, how would you describe (3a) the purpose of QCA and (3b) the analytical procedure of QCA?
3) The procedure of QCA is to make use of qualitative comparisons while using quantitative-statistical methods in order to generate meaningful conclusions about social phenomena and explain certain connections and causalities in the field.
(4) What is data calibration, and how is data calibration different in Crisp-Set-QCA and Fuzzy-Set-QCA?
The research objects have to be allocated to the sets in order to make statements about relations between set theoretical relations. This process is the calibration of raw data. This means that this process has to be executed for all variables and the outcome. Meanwhile in the Crisp-Set-QCA, the cases are allocated to the set of the value of 1 or 0 (see 1.1.). Which means that the case is either part of one set or the other. The Fuzzy-Set-QCA is more flexible as it differs qualitatively and quantitatively with for example establishing a quantitative threshold.
(5) How should one establish (and not establish) the thresholds for set membership?
By considering external sources to be able to allocate the raw data into different sets. These sources can be qualitative or quantitative. However, one should not resort to the previously allocated raw data and use e.g. the mean or the median as thresholds.
(6) As for the calibration of raw data to fuzzy-sets, two methods are discussed, namely the “direct assignment” and “indirect assignment”. What are these assignment methods?
The direct assignment method deals with the questions about the allocation of the research objects (e.g. a country) to the sets. Ultimately it deals with where the conditions regarding the membership of a research object to the set begins and where it ends, and finally where the line is drawn between being a member or not. Meanwhile in indirect assignment methods, broad membership values are given (so no 1 or 0). These values are then, by the use of the “fractional logit model”, regressed to raw data.
(7) What is the goal of the QCA?
The goal is to identify causal paths that can lead to the observed outcome as well as exclude causally irrelevant variables as factors of explanation.
(8) How does one construct a truth table?
After identifying the relevant factors for the hypothesis, the data are listed according to, like in this example, each person who either fulfils each factor (1) or does not (0). Then the combinations of each possible outcome are grouped, so there are all possible combinations of factors listed with the amount of people who are allocated into these groups.
