Configurational Explanations

Area 14 – Scienze politiche e sociali

First introduced by Charles C. Ragin in 1987, Qualitative Comparative Analysis is an analytic eliminative technique that deploys set theory to connect a bundle of factors and an outcome. As such, it can complement findings from more conventional frequentist techniques employed to establish the causal effect of a single factor, “everything else being equal”. However, QCA’s set–theoretic operations often raise doubts that results can be entrusted with the same causal standing as conventional ones. Configurational Explanations intends to dispel some of these doubts in light of a consideration: set theory is equipped to test whether a bundle and an outcome are systematically linked by an “if–then” relationship, which renders the formal side of causation in the logical tradition. Formal validity, however, is not enough: explanations also require the bundle to be causally interpretable and sound. The book reasons interpretability is ensured when factors are selected to render a constitutive mechanism, while soundness ultimately depends on how gauges preserve cases’ qualitative and quantitative information of interest. The book integrates these considerations into a usable protocol for credible configurational explanations and illustrates its application with a study of the accountability designs beneath the diversity in perceived corruption.

SINTESI

EVENTI