The DOI matches its Crossref record; 20 of the 20 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Set Relations in Social Research: Evaluating Their Consistency and Coverage
Abstract
Because of its inherently asymmetric nature, set-theoretic analysis offers many interesting contrasts with analysis based on correlations. Until recently, however, social scientists have been slow to embrace set-theoretic approaches. The perception was that this type of analysis is restricted to primitive, binary variables and that it has little or no tolerance for error. With the advent of “fuzzy” sets and the recognition that even rough set-theoretic relations are relevant to theory, these old barriers have crumbled. This paper advances the set-theoretic approach by presenting simple descriptive measures that can be used to evaluate set-theoretic relationships, especially relations between fuzzy sets. The first measure, “consistency,” assesses the degree to which a subset relation has been approximated, whereas the second measure, “coverage,” assesses the empirical relevance of a consistent subset. This paper demonstrates further that set-theoretic coverage can be partitioned in a manner somewhat analogous to the partitioning of explained variation in multiple regression analysis.
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“Relatedly, Ragin (2006, 304) suggests using 'consistency' (i.e., the share of cases having the same combination of conditions that also display the outcome) as a useful criterion”
From Qualitative Comparative Analysis: How Inductive Use and Measurement Error Lead to Problematic Inference (2013) · cites this paper as Ragin (2006, 304)
Citations
Cites
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Self-citationThe Comparative Method: Moving Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies
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Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) : State of the Art and Prospects
Rihoux, B., & Ragin, C. C. (2004) · Digital Access to Libraries (Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), l'Université de Namur (UNamur) and the Université Saint-Louis (USL-B)) · Cited by 141
Self-citationNecessary conditions : theory, methodology, and applications
Goertz, G., & Starr, H. E. (2003) · Cited by 141
Goertz, G. (2006) · Studies in Comparative International Development · doi:10.1007/bf02686312 · Cited by 138
The Limitations of Net-Effects Thinking
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Self-citationQualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) : State of the Art and Prospects
Ragin, C. C., & Rihoux, B. (2004) · Digital Access to Libraries (Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), l'Université de Namur (UNamur) and the Université Saint-Louis (USL-B)) · Cited by 59
Self-citation
Research works printed but not linked: 6
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Building Better Causal Theories: A Fuzzy Set Approach to Typologies in Organization Research
Fiss, P. C. (2011) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.5465/amj.2011.60263120 · Cited by 5,930
“I set the lowest acceptable consistency for solutions at 0.80, which is again above the minimum recommended threshold of 0.75 (e.g., Ragin, 2006, 2008).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialA set-theoretic approach to organizational configurations
Fiss, P. C. (2007) · Academy of Management Review · doi:10.5465/amr.2007.26586092 · Cited by 2,225
“Using simple calculations, it is possible to further partition path coverage in a manner that is roughly equivalent to partitioning explained variation in a conventional regression model (Ragin, 2006).”
BackgroundMethodStandards of Good Practice in Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) and Fuzzy-Sets
Schneider, C. Q., & Wagemann, C. (2010) · Comparative Sociology · doi:10.1163/156913210x12493538729793 · Cited by 1,473
Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA)
Dul, J. (2015) · Organizational Research Methods · doi:10.1177/1094428115584005 · Cited by 1,402
“Then NCA concludes that X is necessary for Y at lower levels of X, whereas QCA concludes that X is ‘‘less consistent’’ with necessity (necessity ‘‘consistency’’; Bol & Luppi, 2013; Ragin, 2006) without specifying values of X where X is necessary for Y or where X is not necessary for Y.”
BackgroundSet-Theoretic Methods for the Social Sciences: A Guide to Qualitative Comparative Analysis
Schneider, C. Q., & Wagemann, C. (2012) · Cited by 1,345
Metadata
- Authors
- Ragin, C. C.
- Affiliations
- University of Arizona (US)
- Corresponding author
- Ragin, Charles C.
- ORCID
- Ragin, Charles C.
- Venue
- Political Analysis
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2006
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 291-310
- ISSN
- 1047-1987 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4989
- OpenAlex
- W2150935468
- Cited by
- 1,784
- References
- 20
- Citations by year
- 2026: 171 · 2025: 188 · 2024: 172 · 2023: 159 · 2022: 138 · 2021: 153 · 2020: 108 · 2019: 115 · 2018: 86 · 2017: 87 · 2016: 93 · 2015: 79 · 2014: 50 · 2013: 61 · 2012: 26
- FWCI
- 66.24
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Political Analysis (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Qualitative Comparative Analysis Research
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Fuzzy and Soft Set Theory
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Political Science Research and Education
- Keywords
- set-theoretic analysis, fuzzy sets, rough set theory, consistency measure, coverage measures, subset relation, explained variance, partitioning, binary variables, social science methodology
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