Redesigning Social Inquiry
Fuzzy Sets and Beyond
240 pages
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11 line drawings, 33 tables
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5-1/2 x 8-1/2
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© 2008
For over twenty years Charles C. Ragin has been at the forefront of the development of innovative methods for social scientists. In Redesigning Social Inquiry, he continues his campaign to revitalize the field, challenging major aspects of the conventional template for social science research while offering a clear alternative.
Redesigning Social Inquiry provides a substantive critique of the standard approach to social research—namely, assessing the relative importance of causal variables drawn from competing theories. Instead, Ragin proposes the use of set-theoretic methods to find a middle path between quantitative and qualitative research. Through a series of contrasts between fuzzy-set analysis and conventional quantitative research, Ragin demonstrates the capacity for set-theoretic methods to strengthen connections between qualitative researchers’ deep knowledge of their cases and quantitative researchers’ elaboration of cross-case patterns. Packed with useful examples, Redesigning Social Inquiry will be indispensable to experienced professionals and to budding scholars about to embark on their first project.
Redesigning Social Inquiry provides a substantive critique of the standard approach to social research—namely, assessing the relative importance of causal variables drawn from competing theories. Instead, Ragin proposes the use of set-theoretic methods to find a middle path between quantitative and qualitative research. Through a series of contrasts between fuzzy-set analysis and conventional quantitative research, Ragin demonstrates the capacity for set-theoretic methods to strengthen connections between qualitative researchers’ deep knowledge of their cases and quantitative researchers’ elaboration of cross-case patterns. Packed with useful examples, Redesigning Social Inquiry will be indispensable to experienced professionals and to budding scholars about to embark on their first project.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I. Set-Theoretic versus Correlational Connections
Chapter 1. Set Relations in Social Research: Basic Concepts
Chapter 2. Fuzzy Sets and Fuzzy-Set Relations
Chapter 3. Evaluating Set Relations: Consistency and Coverage
Part II. Calibration versus Measurement
Chapter 4. Why Calibrate?
Chapter 5. Calibrating Fuzzy Sets
Part III. Configurations of Conditions versus “Independent” Variables
Chapter 6. Configurational Thinking
Chapter 7. Configurational Analysis Using Fuzzy Sets
and Truth Tables
Part IV. Analysis of Causal Complexity versus Analysis of Net Effects
Chapter 8. Limited Diversity and Counterfactual Cases
coauthored with John Sonnett
Chapter 9. Easy versus Difficult Counterfactuals
Chapter 10. The Limitations of Net Effects Thinking
Chapter 11. Net Effects versus Configurations: An Empirical
Demonstration
coauthored with Peer Fiss
References
Index
Introduction
Part I. Set-Theoretic versus Correlational Connections
Chapter 1. Set Relations in Social Research: Basic Concepts
Chapter 2. Fuzzy Sets and Fuzzy-Set Relations
Chapter 3. Evaluating Set Relations: Consistency and Coverage
Part II. Calibration versus Measurement
Chapter 4. Why Calibrate?
Chapter 5. Calibrating Fuzzy Sets
Part III. Configurations of Conditions versus “Independent” Variables
Chapter 6. Configurational Thinking
Chapter 7. Configurational Analysis Using Fuzzy Sets
and Truth Tables
Part IV. Analysis of Causal Complexity versus Analysis of Net Effects
Chapter 8. Limited Diversity and Counterfactual Cases
coauthored with John Sonnett
Chapter 9. Easy versus Difficult Counterfactuals
Chapter 10. The Limitations of Net Effects Thinking
Chapter 11. Net Effects versus Configurations: An Empirical
Demonstration
coauthored with Peer Fiss
References
Index
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Political Science: Political and Social Theory
Sociology: Methodology, Statistics, and Mathematical Sociology
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