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The Comparative Method: Moving Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies

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Ragin's classic on comparative analysis is a must for any sociologist or social scientist more generally. Raing spends his early chapters discussing some problems of current (at the time) methodologies: too unlike reality, too focused on independent effects of variables, not configurational enough. Then, Ragin presents his argument for getting beyond the qualitative/quantitative divide by introducing a different method of mathematical analysis of comparative data: Boolean Algebra. By coding for the presence or absence of certain factors, Boolean Algebra allows for the assessment of collections of variables (like interaction terms, only more complex) and seemingly brings together mathematical precision and qualitative depth.

While there are certainly some problems with the book (what on earth are the cases we are considering and how does one select them? How do we determine what are salient "variables" to include in the "truth tables"? etc.), it remains a classic of methodology and the corner stone of the methods that Ragin continues to develop (QCA, Fuzzy Sets, etc.). This is a must for most social scientists. Otherwise, it will make for dry reading.