Qualitative Work and the Testing and Development of Theory: Lessons from a Study Combining Cross-Case and Within-Case Analysis via Ragin's QCA

Authors

  • Barry Cooper Durham University
  • Judith Glaesser Durham University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-13.2.1776

Keywords:

Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), combining qualitative and quantitative approaches, educational transitions, causation, German secondary schooling, theory development

Abstract

Charles RAGIN's work, especially his development of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), offers social scientists a way of bringing together the strengths of the qualitative and quantitative traditions. QCA takes a case-based rather than a variable-based analytic approach to cross-case analysis. One problem that arises in attempting to use QCA to explore causation in larger datasets, especially survey datasets, is that the detailed case knowledge available to those working in the qualitative tradition is usually unavailable. In the same way therefore that it can be difficult to establish causation from correlational analyses, the derivation of causal claims from QCA analyses can also be problematic. We discuss these problems in detail and then argue that they can be addressed by using QCA to identify particular types of cases for detailed within-case analysis focusing on causal processes. More specifically, we show how such in-depth, within-case analysis can identify factors that can be used to improve QCA models, including those used to select these cases for analysis. We illustrate this particular mode of combining methods by drawing on our work on educational transitions in Germany, drawing on both the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) dataset and 43 individual interviews with German 17-year olds.

URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs120247

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Author Biographies

Barry Cooper, Durham University

Barry COOPER is Emeritus Professor of Education at Durham University where he was, from 1998 to 2005, Director of Research in Education. He was from 2004-2007 co-editor of the British Educational Research Journal. His interests are in the sociology of education, especially social class, educational achievement and assessment, set-theoretic research methods (collaborating with Judith GLAESSER) and the evaluation of educational aid projects. A representative book is, with Máiréad DUNNE, "Assessing Children's Mathematical Knowledge: Social Class, Sex and Problem-Solving". A new book, COOPER, GLAESSER, GOMM and HAMMERSLEY's "Challenging the Qualitative-Quantitative Divide: Explorations in Case-Focused Causal Analysis" was published by Continuum in March 2012.

Judith Glaesser, Durham University

Dr Judith GLAESSER is a lecturer in the School of Education at Durham University, where she was previously an ESRC Research Fellow. Her interests include the sociology of education, inequality and meritocracy in education, and research methods, particularly QCA. She gained a PhD at Konstanz University (published as "Soziale und individuelle Einflüsse auf den Erwerb von Bildungsabschlüssen"). With Barry COOPER, she is applying case-based methods in comparing young people's careers in English and German secondary schools. A new book, COOPER, GLAESSER, GOMM and HAMMERSLEY's "Challenging the Qualitative-Quantitative Divide: Explorations in Case-focused Causal Analysis" was published by Continuum in March 2012.

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Published

2012-03-28

How to Cite

Cooper, B., & Glaesser, J. (2012). Qualitative Work and the Testing and Development of Theory: Lessons from a Study Combining Cross-Case and Within-Case Analysis via Ragin’s QCA. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 13(2). https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-13.2.1776