Charles C. Ragin – författare

Case-based methods have a long history in the social sciences. They are extensively used and raise many practical and theoretical questions. This book provides a comprehensive, critical examination of case-oriented research. It offers concrete proposals about the best research methods and provides an unparalleled guide to the emergence and complexity of the field.

The Handbook:

-Situates the reader in the essential theoretical and practical issues;

-Demonstrates the unity and diversity of case-oriented research through an examination of case-based methods;

-Distinguishes between case-based and case study research;

-Elucidates the philosophical issues around case based methods;

-Examines case-based work in the context of both social theory and theories of research methods.

Configurational Comparative Methods paves the way for an innovative approach to empirical scientific work through a strategy that integrates key strengths of both qualitative (case-oriented) and quantitative (variable-oriented) approaches. This first-of-its-kind text is ideally suited for "small-N" or "intermediate-N" research situations, which both mainstream qualitative and quantitative methods find difficult to address. Benoît Rihoux and Charles C. Ragin, along with their contributing authors, offer both a basic, comparative research design overview and a technical and hands-on review of Crisp-Set QCA (csQCA), Multi-Value QCA (mvQCA), and Fuzzy-Set QCA (fsQCA).

Key Features

Intended Audience

A must for any student or researcher who wants to engage in systematic cross-case comparison in the social and behavioral sciences, the book is ideal for use in upper-level undergraduate and graduate-level social science research methods courses.

Case-based methods have a long history in the social sciences. They are extensively used and raise many practical and theoretical questions. This book provides a comprehensive, critical examination of case-oriented research. It offers concrete proposals about the best research methods and provides an unparalleled guide to the emergence and complexity of the field.

The Handbook:

-Situates the reader in the essential theoretical and practical issues;

-Demonstrates the unity and diversity of case-oriented research through an examination of case-based methods;

-Distinguishes between case-based and case study research;

-Elucidates the philosophical issues around case based methods;

-Examines case-based work in the context of both social theory and theories of research methods.

Case-based methods have a long history in the social sciences. They are extensively used and raise many practical and theoretical questions. This book provides a comprehensive, critical examination of case-oriented research. It offers concrete proposals about the best research methods and provides an unparalleled guide to the emergence and complexity of the field.

The Handbook:

-Situates the reader in the essential theoretical and practical issues;

-Demonstrates the unity and diversity of case-oriented research through an examination of case-based methods;

-Distinguishes between case-based and case study research;

-Elucidates the philosophical issues around case based methods;

-Examines case-based work in the context of both social theory and theories of research methods.

The updated Third Edition of this innovative text shows the unity within the diversity of activities called social research to help students understand how all social researchers construct representations of social life using theories, systematic data collection, and careful examination of that data. The book tackles questions like "What is social research?", "How does it differ from journalism, documentary film-making, or laboratory research in the natural sciences?", and "What is the researcher's obligation to those he or she is studying?"

Updated throughout with new references and examples, this edition is designed to evoke challenging questions regarding the nature of representation and the ethical challenges facing social scientific researchers. The text moves beyond standard research challenges to push readers to see the complex relationships among ethics, ideas, evidence, and outcomes.