Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Using qualitative comparative analysis to understand and quantify translation and implementation

  • Original research
  • Published:
Translational Behavioral Medicine

ABSTRACT

Understanding the factors that facilitate implementation of behavioral medicine programs into practice can advance translational science. Often, translation or implementation studies use case study methods with small sample sizes. Methodological approaches that systematize findings from these types of studies are needed to improve rigor and advance the field. Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) is a method and analytical approach that can advance implementation science. QCA offers an approach for rigorously conducting translational and implementation research limited by a small number of cases. We describe the methodological and analytic approach for using QCA and provide examples of its use in the health and health services literature. QCA brings together qualitative or quantitative data derived from cases to identify necessary and sufficient conditions for an outcome. QCA offers advantages for researchers interested in analyzing complex programs and for practitioners interested in developing programs that achieve successful health outcomes.

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

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Ragin CC. The comparative method: moving beyond qualitative and quantitative strategies. Berkeley, CA: The University of California Press; 1987.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Ragin CC. Using qualitative comparative analysis to study causal complexity. Health Serv Res. 1999; 34(5 Pt 2): 1225-1239.

    CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Ragin CC. Fuzzy-set social science. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press; 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Ragin CC. Redesigning social inquiry: fuzzy sets and beyond. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press; 2008.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  5. Glasgow RE, Vinson C, Chambers D, et al. National Institutes of Health approaches to dissemination and implementation science: current and future directions. Am J Public Health. 2012; 102: 1274-1281.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Kon A. The clinical and translational science award (CTSA) consortium and the translational research model. Am J Bioeth. 2008; 8(3): 58-63.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Tufts Clinical and Translational Science Institute. What is translational science? Available at http://www.tuftsctsi.org/About-Us/What-is-Translational-Science.aspx?c=129864037426803263. Accessibility verified July 10, 2012

  8. Yin RK. Case study research: design and methods. 4th ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications; 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Kahwati LC, Lewis MA, Kane H, et al. Best practices in the Veterans Health Administration’s MOVE! weight management program. Am J Prev Med. 2011; 41(5): 457-464.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Ford EW, Duncan WJ, Ginter PM. Health departments’ implementation of public health’s core functions: an assessment of health impacts. Public Health. 2005; 119: 11-21.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Blackman T, Wistow JN, Byrne D. A qualitative comparative analysis of factors associated with trends in narrowing health inequalities in England. Soc Sci Med. 2011; 72(12): 1965-1974.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Dy SM, Garg P, Nyberg D, et al. Critical pathway effectiveness: assessing the impact of patient, hospital care, and pathway characteristics using qualitative comparative analysis. Health Serv Res. 2005; 40(2): 499-516.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Thygeson NM, Solberg LI, Asche SE, et al. Using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fs/QCA) to explore the relationship between medical “homeness” and quality. Health Serv Res. 2011. doi:10.1111/j:1475-6773.2011.01303.x. pre-publication web version.

    PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  14. Schneider CQ, Wagemann C. Set-theoretic methods for the social sciences: a guide to qualitative comparative analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2012.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  15. Longest KC, Thoits PA. Gender, the stress process, and health: A configurational approach. Soc Mental Health. 2012; published, online 6 July 2012.

  16. Berg-Schlosser D, De Meur G. Comparative research design: case and variable selection. In RC Rihoux Benoit & C Ragin (Eds.), configurational comparative methods: qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), and related techniques. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications; 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Rihoux Benoit RC, Ragin CC, eds. Configurational comparative methods: qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) and related techniques. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications; 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Caren N, Panofsky A. TQCA. A technique for adding temporality to qualitative comparative analysis. Sociol Methods Res. 2005; 34(2): 147-172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Weiner BJ, Jacobs SR, Minasian LM, et al. Organizational designs for achieving high treatment trial enrollment: a fuzzy-set analysis of the community clinical oncology program. J Oncol Pract. 2012; 8(5): 288-290.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Schensul JJ, Chandran D, Singh SK, et al. The use of qualitative comparative analysis for critical event research in alcohol and HIV in Mumbai, India. AIDS Behav. 2010; 14: S113-S125. doi:10.1007/s10461-010-9736-6.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Chuang E, Dill J, Morgan JC, et al. A configurational approach to the relationship between high-performance work practices and frontline health care worker outcomes. Health Serv Res. 2012; 47(4): 1460-1481.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Harkreader S, Imershein AW. The conditions for state action in Florida’s health care market. J Health Soc Behav. 1999; 40(2): 159-174.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. RTI International, 3040 Cornwallis Road, Research Triangle Park, P.O. Box 12194, Durham, NC, 27709, USA

    Heather Kane PhD, Megan A Lewis PhD, Pamela A Williams PhD & Leila C Kahwati MD, MPH

Authors
  1. Heather Kane PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Megan A Lewis PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Pamela A Williams PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Leila C Kahwati MD, MPH
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Heather Kane PhD.

Additional information

Implications

Practice: Identifying multiple successful intervention models (equifinality) can aid in selecting a practice model relevant to a context, and can facilitate implementation.

Policy: QCA can be used to develop actionable policy information for decision makers that accommodates contextual factors.

Research: Researchers can use QCA to understand causal complexity in translational or implementation research and to assess the relationships between policies, interventions, or procedures and successful outcomes.

About this article

Cite this article

Kane, H., Lewis, M.A., Williams, P.A. et al. Using qualitative comparative analysis to understand and quantify translation and implementation. Behav. Med. Pract. Policy Res. 4, 201–208 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13142-014-0251-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13142-014-0251-6

KEYWORDS

Search

Navigation