Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

International Conference on Knowledge Science, Engineering and Management

KSEM 2015: Knowledge Science, Engineering and Management pp 115–127Cite as

Fm-QCA: A Novel Approach to Multi-value Qualitative Comparative Analysis

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:

  • 3013 Accesses

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 9403))

Abstract

Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) is a technique originally developed by Charles Ragin in the field of political science. It accepts data sets from the problem of interest, and applies the rules of logical inference to determine the relations between combinations of variables and outcomes, which helps researchers validate hypotheses or discover new implications. However, existing QCA approaches or tools have limited capacities in handling multivalued explanatory and outcome variables, as well as in outputting compact results for human analysis. In this paper, we propose a novel QCA approach, which can deal with multivalued variables and support more complicated analysis. Our approach enables 1) multi-value reduction of candidate rules; and 2) effective counterfactual analysis associated with expert knowledge. We also implemented a new tool called fully functional multi-value QCA (fm-QCA). Through the evaluation, our tool outperforms existing state-of-the-art QCA tools in producing more compact analysis results as well as discovering more inferences.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Amenta, E., Caren, N., Olasky, S.J.: Age for leisure? political mediation and the impact of the pension movement on us old-age policy. American Sociological Review 70(3), 516–538 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Basurto, X.: Linking multi-level governance to local common-pool resource theory using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis: insights from twenty years of biodiversity conservation in costa rica. Global Environmental Change 23(3), 573–587 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Cartwright, N.: Hunting causes and using them: approaches in philosophy and economics. Cambridge University Press (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Cronqvist, L.: Tosmana, version 1.3. 2.0 [computer program], p. 88. University of Trier, Trier (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Dixon, M., Roscigno, V.J., Hodson, R.: Unions, solidarity, and striking. Social Forces 83(1), 3–33 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Gao, M., Jiang, J.H., Jiang, Y., Li, Y., Sinha, S., Brayton, R.: Mvsis. In: Proc. of the Intl. Workshop on Logic Synthesis (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Greckhamer, T., Misangyi, V.F., Elms, H., Lacey, R.: Using qualitative comparative analysis in strategic management research: An examination of combinations of industry, corporate, and business-unit effects. Organizational Research Methods (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Hagan, J., Hansford-Bowles, S.: From resistance to activis m: The emergence and persistence of activism among american vietnam war resisters in canada. Social Movement Studies 4(3), 231–259 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Hellström, E., Seura, S.M.: Conflict cultures: qualitative comparative analysis of environmental conflicts in forestry, vol. 2. Finnish Society of Forest Science [and] Finnish Forest Research Institute (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Karnaugh, M.: The map method for synthesis of combinational logic circuits. Trans. AIEE. Pt. I 72(9), 593–599 (1953)

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  11. Kask, J., Linton, G.: Business mating: when start-ups get it right. Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship 26(5), 511–536 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Korjani, M.M., Mendel, J.M.: Fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsqca): Challenges and applications. In: 2012 Annual Meeting of the North American Fuzzy Information Processing Society (NAFIPS), pp. 1–6. IEEE (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  13. McCluskey, E.J.: Minimization of boolean functions*. Bell System Technical Journal 35(6), 1417–1444 (1956)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  14. Mendel, J.M., Korjani, M.: Fast fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fast fsqca). Submitted for Presentation at NAFIPS (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Mendel, J.M., Korjani, M.M.: Charles ragin’s fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsqca) used for linguistic summarizations. Information Sciences 202, 1–23 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Mendel, J.M., Korjani, M.M.: Theoretical aspects of fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsqca). Information Sciences 237, 137–161 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Osa, M., Corduneanu-Huci, C.: Running uphill: political opportunity in non-democracies. Comparative Sociology 2, 605–630 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Ragin, C.C.: The Comparative Method: Moving Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies. Univ. of California Press (1989)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Ragin, C.C.: Fuzzy-set social science. University of Chicago Press (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Ragin, C.C.: Redesigning social inquiry: Fuzzy sets and beyond. Wiley Online Library (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Tang, R., Tang, S.: The historical heritage and the former soviet union and east european countries democratic transition. World Economics and Politics 2, 39–57 (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Thiem, A., Dusa, A.: Qca: A package for qualitative comparative analysis. The R Journal 5(1), 87–97 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Wickham-Crowley, T.P.: A qualitative comparative approach to latin american revolutions. International Journal of Comparative Sociology 32(1), 82–109 (1991)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Trustworthy Computing, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China

    Ke Wu, Geguang Pu, Min Wu & Ting Su

  2. Center for Complex Decision Analysis (CCDA), Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Shiping Tang

Authors
  1. Ke Wu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Shiping Tang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Geguang Pu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Min Wu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Ting Su
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Geguang Pu .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Songmao Zhang

  2. Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany

    Martin Wirsing

  3. Southwest University, Chongqing, China

    Zili Zhang

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this paper

Cite this paper

Wu, K., Tang, S., Pu, G., Wu, M., Su, T. (2015). Fm-QCA: A Novel Approach to Multi-value Qualitative Comparative Analysis. In: Zhang, S., Wirsing, M., Zhang, Z. (eds) Knowledge Science, Engineering and Management. KSEM 2015. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9403. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25159-2_10

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25159-2_10

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-25158-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-25159-2

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation