The “qualitative” in qualitative comparative analysis (QCA): research moves, case-intimacy and face-to-face interviews




Faculty/Professorship: Governance of Complex and Innovative Technological Systems  
Author(s): Pagliarin, Sofia ; La Mendola, Salvatore; Vis, Barbara
Publisher Information: Bamberg : Otto-Friedrich-Universität
Year of publication: 2023
Pages: 489-507
Source/Other editions: Quality & Quantity, 57 (2023), 1, S. 489-507 - ISSN: 1573-7845
is version of: 10.1007/s11135-022-01358-0
Year of first publication: 2023
Language(s): English
Licence: Creative Commons - CC BY - Attribution 4.0 International 
URN: urn:nbn:de:bvb:473-irb-583811
Abstract: 
Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) includes two main components: QCA “as a research approach” and QCA “as a method”. In this study, we focus on the former and, by means of the “interpretive spiral”, we critically look at the research process of QCA. We show how QCA as a research approach is composed of (1) an “analytical move”, where cases, conditions and outcome(s) are conceptualised in terms of sets, and (2) a “membership move”, where set membership values are qualitatively assigned by the researcher (i.e. calibration). Moreover, we show that QCA scholars have not sufficiently acknowledged the data generation process as a constituent research phase (or “move”) for the performance of QCA. This is particularly relevant when qualitative data–e.g. interviews, focus groups, documents–are used for subsequent analysis and calibration (i.e. analytical and membership moves). We call the qualitative data collection process “relational move” because, for data gathering, researchers establish the social relation “interview” with the study participants. By using examples from our own research, we show how a dialogical interviewing style can help researchers gain the in-depth knowledge necessary to meaningfully represent qualitative data into set membership values for QCA, hence improving our ability to account for the “qualitative” in QCA.
GND Keywords: Qualitativ vergleichende Analyse
Keywords: Calibration, Data generation, Interviewing, In-depth knowledge, Qualitative data
DDC Classification: 300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology  
RVK Classification: MR 2000   
Type: Article
URI: https://fis.uni-bamberg.de/handle/uniba/58381
Release Date: 17. February 2023
Project: Open-Access-Publikationskosten 2022 - 2024

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