Critical Tension: Sufficiency and Parsimony in QCA

2019 ◽  
pp. 004912411988245
Author(s):  
Adrian Dușa
Keyword(s):  
Causal Structure ◽  
Qualitative Comparative Analysis ◽  
Optimal Solution ◽  
Causal Analysis ◽  
Search Strategies ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
Solution Type ◽  
Critical Tension ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Intermediate Solution

The main objective of the qualitative comparative analysis is to find solutions that display sufficient configurations of causal conditions leading to the presence of an outcome. These solutions should be less complex than the original observed configurations, as parsimonious as possible, without sacrificing the sufficiency requirement. Sufficiency and parsimony are two requirements that act in opposition, and an optimal solution is one that accommodates both. There are different search strategies that lead to different types of solutions, with an ongoing debate about which solution type is closest to the true, underlying causal structure. This article presents the different logics behind each simplification system in order to explain how and why they lead to different results and introduces the concept of “robust sufficiency” to clear the debate. It analyses the correctness ratios for the different solution type and provides an improved set of procedures to measure correctness that captures the best features from each system. Out of the competition between the conservative and the parsimonious search strategies, the intermediate solution emerges as the best hybrid that is suitable for causal analysis, outperforming the parsimonious solution in recovering a known (even parsimonious) causal structure.

scholarly journals Beyond the Facts: Limited Empirical Diversity and Causal Inference in Qualitative Comparative Analysis

2019 ◽  
pp. 004912411988246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alrik Thiem
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Causal Inference ◽  
Qualitative Comparative Analysis ◽  
Causal Discovery ◽  
Artificial Data ◽  
Methodological Research ◽  
Solution Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
Intermediate Solution

Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) is a relatively young method of causal inference that continues to diffuse across the social sciences. However, recent methodological research has found the conservative (QCA-CS) and the intermediate solution type (QCA-IS) of QCA to fail fundamental tests of correctness. Even under conditions otherwise ideal for causal discovery, both solution types frequently committed causal fallacies by presenting inferences that were in direct disagreement with the underlying data-generating structure to be discovered by QCA. None of these problems affected the parsimonious solution type (QCA-PS). These findings conflict with conventional wisdom in the QCA literature, which has it that QCA-CS uses empirical information only and that QCA-IS is preferable to both QCA-CS and QCA-PS. The present article resolves these contradictions. It shows that QCA-CS and QCA-IS systematically supplement empirical data with matching artificial data. These artificial data, however, regularly induce causal fallacies of severe magnitude. Researchers who employ QCA-CS or QCA-IS in empirical analyses thus always risk moving further away from the truth rather than closer to it.

Often Trusted but Never (Properly) Tested: Evaluating Qualitative Comparative Analysis

2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Baumgartner ◽  
Alrik Thiem
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Causal Inference ◽  
Qualitative Comparative Analysis ◽  
Simulation Studies ◽  
Artificial Data ◽  
Solution Type ◽  
Adequate Evaluation ◽  
Intermediate Solution ◽  
The One ◽  
First Time

To date, hundreds of researchers have employed the method of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) for the purpose of causal inference. In a recent series of simulation studies, however, several authors have questioned the correctness of QCA in this connection. Some prominent representatives of the method have replied in turn that simulations with artificial data are unsuited for assessing QCA. We take issue with either position in this impasse. On the one hand, we argue that data-driven evaluations of the correctness of a procedure of causal inference require artificial data. On the other hand, we prove all previous attempts in this direction to have been defective. For the first time in the literature on configurational comparative methods, we lay out a set of formal criteria for an adequate evaluation of QCA before implementing a battery of inverse-search trials to test how this method performs in different recovery contexts according to these criteria. While our results indicate that QCA is correct when generating the parsimonious solution type, they also demonstrate that the method is incorrect when generating the conservative and intermediate solution type. In consequence, researchers using QCA for causal inference, particularly in human-sensitive areas such as public health and medicine, should immediately discontinue employing the method’s conservative and intermediate search strategies.

scholarly journals Linear programming measures for solving the problem of a linear division of convex multiplayers.

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarmad H. Ali ◽  
Osamah A. Ali ◽  
Samir C. Ajmi
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Linear Programming ◽  
Optimal Solution ◽  
Optimal Method ◽  
Linear Separation ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Simplex Methods

In this research, we are trying to solve Simplex methods which are used for successively improving solution and finding the optimal solution, by using different types of methods Linear, the concept of linear separation is widely used in the study of machine learning, through this study we will find the optimal method to solve by comparing the time consumed by both Quadric and Fisher methods.

scholarly journals User experience in personalized online shopping: a fuzzy-set analysis

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (7/8) ◽  
pp. 1679-1703 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilias O. Pappas
Keyword(s):  
Fuzzy Set ◽  
Multiple Solutions ◽  
Online Shopping ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Qualitative Comparative Analysis ◽  
Theory Development ◽  
Optimal Solution ◽  
Purchase Intentions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Intention To Purchase

Purpose In the complex environments of online personalization, multiple factors have been considered to explain consumers’ online behaviour, but largely without considering the role of specific configurations of variables and how they may affect consumer behaviour. This study aims to show how trust towards online vendors, privacy, emotions and experience combine to predict consumers’ purchase intentions. Design/methodology/approach Building on complexity theory, a conceptual model followed by research propositions is presented. The propositions are empirically validated through configurational analysis, using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) on 182 customers with experience in personalized online shopping. Predictive validity analysis is also performed. Findings Five solutions of trust, privacy, emotions and experience increase intention to purchase, and six solutions inhibit it. The findings verify the importance of trust and happiness in successful personalized online shopping. Their absence inhibits purchase intentions. Also, high experience may help to overcome low trust or negative emotions, whereas low experience requires the combination of high trust and happiness. None of the examined factors are indispensable to explain purchase intentions. Research limitations/implications The study uses fsQCA, differentiating from traditional studies in the area that use variance-based methods and identifies multiple solutions explaining the same outcome. The proposed approach contributes to theory development in the field. Practical implications The multiple solutions lead to new ways on how companies may approach their customers, as each one covers a specific part of the sample, adding to the fact that in personalized marketing there is not one single optimal solution explaining customer purchase intentions. Originality/value This study contributes by extending existing knowledge on how trust, privacy, emotions and experience combine to increase or mitigate intention to purchase towards the development of new emotion-centric theories and the design and provision of personalized services and presenting a step-by-step methodological approach for how to apply fsQCA in e-commerce studies.

Disentangling the driving factors of logistics outsourcing: a configurational perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 964-992 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qingyao Wan ◽  
Yang Yuan ◽  
Fujun Lai
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Comparative Analysis ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Manufacturing Companies ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Logistics Outsourcing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Logistics Services ◽  
Different Types ◽  
External Management ◽  
Configural Analysis

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how external pressures, internal capability and transaction attributes of logistics outsourcing synergically influence the extent of asset-based and non-asset-based logistics outsourcing. Design/methodology/approach Based on the data surveyed from 250 manufacturing companies in China, this study employed fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to deduce multiple configurations for logistics outsourcing decisions. Findings The results suggest that asset-based logistics outsourcing is primarily driven by external imitation pressures or internal demands for logistics technologies, while non-asset-based logistics outsourcing is mainly driven by the demands for external management-based logistics services. Asset specificity plays a positive role in promoting both asset-based and non-asset-based logistics outsourcing. The requirement for third-party logistics (3PL) management capability depends on the outsourcing types and outsourcing causes. Practical implications This study provides guidance to practitioners for them to make outsourcing decisions. It suggests that asset-based logistics outsourcing is more appropriate when there are high external imitation pressures or more internal logistics demands, while non-asset-based logistics outsourcing should be used only when a firm needs management-based logistics services. Besides, 3PL users are suggested to outsource their logistics when their 3PL providers are required to make specific investments. In addition, managers should carefully evaluate firms’ capabilities in managing outsourcing relationships. Originality/value Previous studies largely ignored the interaction effects of a set of factors on logistics outsourcing decisions, and to date, little research empirically examined how outsourcing is driven in terms of different types of outsourcing. Drawing on the institutional theory, dynamic capability view, and transaction cost theory and overarching under the complexity theory, this study examines how institutional, organizational and transactional factors interplay with each other to influence different types of logistics outsourcing (i.e. asset based and non-asset based). Methodologically, the configural analysis (i.e. fsQCA) is applied to explore complex causal configurations that drive logistics outsourcing.

scholarly journals Determining the vehicles routes by considering its different types and capacity (heterogeneous) to minimize the total distribution cost

2018 ◽  
Vol 154 ◽  
pp. 01069
Author(s):  
Nurhidayat ◽  
Annie Purwani
Keyword(s):  
Optimal Solution ◽  
Fixed Cost ◽  
Routing Problem ◽  
Total Cost ◽  
Vehicle Type ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Insertion Algorithm ◽  
Calculation Results ◽  
Distribution Cost ◽  
Alternative Solutions

Packaged sugar is one of the products in sugar cane manufacture, PT Madubaru Yogyakarta. Currently, the company deals with a high distribution cost because there is no plan to determine the vehicle route, vehicle type, and capacity for distributing the product. In this research, the optimum route of the distributing vehicles is developed. The company has three different types and capacity of vehicles: L300, HD, and PS. A problem in determining the distribution route here is called as Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP). The basic form of classic VRP says that all vehicles owned by a company have the same capacity (homogenous), meanwhile not all companies have the vehicles with same capacity. The heterogeneous variant is used to minimize the fixed cost of vehicles and distribution variant cost using Sequential Insertion Algorithm. This research has three purposes; are minimizing the number of vehicles used (NV), Total time of Completion tour (TCT) and Distribution Total Cost (TCD). The results based on a test calculation of a shipment date (August 19, 2016) of the company show three alternative solutions to distribute the packaged sugar to 12 consumers. The third alternative solution is the optimal solution and chosen as the decision result of the packaged sugar shipment. Based on the calculation results, it is needed 2 vehicles type HD with capacity 7,000 kg and type PS with capacity 3,500 kg, with total time of completion tour (TCT) is 828.49 minutes or 13.81 hours, and distribution total cost is IDR. 959,011.

RADIAL-AXIAL HEAT FLOW IN REGIONS BOUNDED INTERNALLY BY CIRCULAR CYLINDERS

1953 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 472-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. H. Blackwell
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flow ◽  
Integral Transform ◽  
Circular Cylinders ◽  
Flow Problems ◽  
Solution Type ◽  
Transient Heat Flow ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Axial Heat ◽  
Simple Product ◽  
Product Solution

Two radial–axial transient heat flow problems have been solved for regions bounded internally by circular cylinders. They are not of the simple "product-solution" type and it is considered that they may have application in other fields of physics where the Diffusion Equation applies. The problems arose during investigation into "end-effect" in cylindrical thermal-conductivity probes. The solutions are obtained by integral-transform methods, two different types of transform being used in each solution.

scholarly journals INCREASING THE EFFICIENCY OF MULTIMODAL TRANSPORTATION WITH ALTERNATIVE USE OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF TRANSPORT

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (2(79)) ◽  
pp. 96-104
Author(s):  
S.V. KOTENKO ◽  
V.A. KASIANOVA ◽  
M.V. SHAMIN
Keyword(s):  
Optimal Solution ◽  
Freight Transportation ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Objective Functions ◽  
Measurement Scales ◽  
Multimodal Transportation ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Cargo Transportation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Efficiency And Reliability

Topicality. The urgency of the study is due to the fact that in Ukraine the volume of cargo transportation using multimodal technologies is growing. Therefore, increasing the efficiency of multimodal transportation using the latest methods of their optimization is timely. This is especially true for those modes of transport whose share in total freight turnover is relatively small. Aim and tasks.The main purpose of the study is to develop theoretical and applied provisions and algorithms for finding the optimal solution for several target functions with different measurement scales to increase the efficiency of multimodal transportation, in particular, with the alternative use of different modes of transport. To achieve this goal, the following tasks arose: to study the impact of the monopolization of the transportation market by certain modes of transport on the reliability and efficiency of transportation; solving the problem of optimization of freight transportation from the national or general industry point of view; study of the importance of the development of inland water transport to increase the efficiency and reliability of multimodal transport; creating an algorithm for finding the optimal solution for several target functions. Research results.Theoretical and applied positions of search of the optimum decision on several target functions with different scale of measurement for increase of efficiency of multimodal transportations, including, at alternative use of different types of transport are investigated. The study proved that the choice of only one of the traditional target functions of transport companies - the cost or time of transportation does not guarantee its effectiveness without assessing the risks of transportation of goods. An algorithm for selecting the optimal solution for several objective functions is proposed. To do this, we used the method of finding the extremum of each of them by its own nontrivial subset. It is proved that these sets, in the general case, are not identical, so to find a solution for several objective functions complicated by their different dimensions, the principle of compromise must be used.The study established a significant degree of monopolization of the transportation market by certain modes of transport and indicated that to solve the problem of optimization of freight transportation from the national or general industry point of view requires equalization of disparities in freight turnover by mode of transport.Conclusion.Analysis of the results of the study allows us to draw the following conclusions: to use the resource to increase the efficiency and reliability of cargo transportation, especially for multimodal transportation technologies, it is necessary to equalize the disproportions of cargo turnover by types of cargo transportation to avoid monopolization of the transport market. To increase the efficiency of transportation, the latest algorithm for selecting the optimal solution for several target functions is proposed. The introduction of this algorithm to optimize multimodal transportation in scientific and practical problems will allow to take into account the risks and find a compromise solution in complex problems of finding solutions for the transportation of goods.

scholarly journals How Might Cognitive Factors Affect Iranian EFL Learners’ Response to Feedback Provided on Writing? An Individual Differences Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 42-55
Author(s):  
Khalil Sazideh ◽  
Omid Mallahi
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Qualitative Comparative Analysis ◽  
Corrective Feedback ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Pedagogical Intervention ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Effects Of Feedback ◽  
Direct Feedback

The researchers exploring the effectiveness of feedback have normally contrasted groups of learners receiving different types of feedback treatments. However, since there are always individual responses to any pedagogical treatment within a group of students and the effects of feedback can vary significantly even in participants receiving the same kind of feedback in the same experiment, the present study used a qualitative case study approach and techniques such as narrative construction and qualitative comparative analysis to see how the individuals with different cognitive characteristics (namely, language learning aptitude and working memory) respond to various types of feedback (namely, direct feedback, indirect feedback with error codes and metalinguistic feedback with explanations) provided on linguistic aspects of their writings and how these characteristics might impact their learning from the feedback. The comparison of the students’ responses to the feedback provided indicated that different individuals respond to and benefit from the learning potentials of different types of corrective feedback in different and their own unique ways. In fact, the learners having higher levels of aptitude and working memory were better able to resolve their problems and improve their writing as a result of the feedback received. On the whole, the findings of the present study confirm the important role of considering learners’ individual characteristics in any pedagogical intervention.

Fabrication and Measurement of Flexible Polymer Aerogel and Factors Affecting its Thermal Conductivity

2021 ◽  
Vol 324 ◽  
pp. 133-138
Author(s):  
Jia Zhen Wang ◽  
Jing Du ◽  
Yun Bo Wang
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Sol Gel ◽  
Optimal Solution ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Flexible Polymer ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Wire Method ◽  
High Production ◽  
Gel Technique ◽  
High Production Cost

Silica aerogels are the most widely studied type of aerogel. However, its application still suffers from low mechanical strength and high production cost. The paper studies the use of recyclable PVC as the backbone material of the aerogel and introduces an economically friendly fabrication process of flexible PVC aerogel using sol-gel technique and ambient drying instead of the CO2 critical drying. Three different types of PVC powder with the molecule weight of 43000, 48000, and 80000 respectively are chosen and dissolved in DMF in five different concentrations-0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0 g (mL)-1. The lowest thermal conductivity of the aerogel is measured using hot-wire method as 0.0323W(m*K)-1, which is made of PVC with molecule weight of 80000 in a concentration of 0.4g (mL)-1. The analysis based on SEM pictures shows that PVC type and concentration would greatly influence aerogel’s structure thus affecting its thermal conductivity. The optimal solution for producing low thermal conductivity aerogel is to use PVC powder with low molecule weight with a concentration between 0.2 and 0.6 g (mL)-1.

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