Innovative Comparative Methods for Policy Analysis : Beyond the Quantitative-Qualitative Divide

Innovative Comparative Methods for Policy Analysis aims to provide a decisive push to the further development and application of innovative and specific comparative methods for the improvement of policy analysis. To take on this challenge, this volume brings together methodologists and specialists from a broad range of social scientific disciplines and policy fields. The work further develops methods for systematic comparative cases analysis in a small-N research design, with a key emphasis laid on policy-oriented applications. Both a social scientific and policy-driven endeavor, the book engages on one hand in an effort to further improve social scientific methods, and on the other provides useful, applied tools for policy analysts and the "policy community" alike. Much of the focus is on Qualitative Comparative Analysis(QCA) and Fuzzy-Sets (FS), two recently developed research methods which permit a systematic comparison of a limited number of cases.