The Goldilocks Principle: Applying the Exclusive Disjunction to Fuzzy Sets

Autor/in	Hackett, Ursula
Titel	The Goldilocks Principle: Applying the Exclusive Disjunction to Fuzzy Sets
Quelle	In: International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 19 (2016) 5, S.551-574 (24 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1364-5579
DOI	10.1080/13645579.2015.1053708
Schlagwörter	Qualitative Research; Comparative Analysis; Social Science Research; Social Scientists + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Qualitative Forschung; Social scientific research; Sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung; Social scientist; Sozialwissenschaftler
Abstract	Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), a technique by which the tools of Boolean algebra are applied to equifinal causal conditions, is gaining popularity amongst scholars. This paper draws upon a distinction largely overlooked by the QCA literature: the difference between inclusive- and exclusive-or (OR and XOR). I argue that XOR should be included amongst the tools of QCA, explain why XOR is more easily applied to crisp- than fuzzy-set QCA, and provide two original techniques for applying XOR to fuzzy sets: mechanical and calibrated. With the calibrated technique, the application of the exclusive-or is related to substantive knowledge of the cases with two threshold values: (1) how large two fuzzy set values need to be in order to violate a prior commitment or overshoot a target outcome, and (2) how similar two values need to be in order to violate the rule: 'A or B, but not both.' This paper improves the capacity of QCA expressions to mirror natural language closely, formalize conversational implicature, and deal with mutually exclusive clusters of sufficiency conditions. It includes a helpful step-by-step guide for QCA practitioners. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01