Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) and Sociology - Perspectives, Potential, and Areas of Application

Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) wurde von dem Soziologen Charles C. Ragin als Verbindung von fallorientierten, konfigurativen Ansätzen und mengentheoretischem Denken präsentiert. Mittlerweile hat sich QCA – von Ragin und anderen weiterentwickelt – als mengentheoretischer Ansatz zur Untersuchung sozialer Phänomene im sozialwissenschaftlichen Methodenkanon etabliert. Der vorliegende Beitrag zielt darauf ab, Forschungsperspektiven und -potentiale von QCA als (relativ) junge Methode für soziologische Fragestellungen aufzuzeigen. Auf der Grundlage einer Rundschau von 77 publizierten, soziologischen Zeitschriftenartikeln wird einerseits ein breiter Überblick über Anwendungsbereiche, aktuelle Trends und Entwicklungen von QCA in der Soziologie gegeben. Andererseits werden am Beispiel der publizierten Studien die einzelnen Analyseschritte einer QCA besprochen und dabei gängige Fallstricke aufgezeigt, wobei sowohl practiced practices und auch best practices in ihrer Anwendung herausgearbeitet werden.The sociologist Charles C. Ragin presented Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) combining ideas of case-oriented research, configurational thinking, and set-theoretical logic. Since then – being further developed by Ragin and others – QCA as a set-theoretical approach to analyze social phenomena has become an established tool within social science methodology. This paper aims at highlighting perspectives and potentials QCA as a (relatively) new method is able to offer for addressing sociological research questions. In order to do so, 77 publications in the field of sociology are reviewed. On this basis, on the one hand, a broad overview is given regarding applications, trends, and developments of QCA. On the other hand, crucial steps within every QCA are examined and potential pitfalls discussed by exemplifying practiced practices and best practices

"It’s never easy for the president to get exactly what he wants." : presidential activism and success in the legislative arena during the presidencies of Clinton, Bush, and Obama

Based on an original dataset of 100 important pieces of legislation passed during the three presidencies of William J. Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack H. Obama (1992-2013), this study explores two sets of questions: (1) How do presidents influence legislators in Congress in the legislative arena, and what factors have an effect on the legislative strategies presidents choose? (2) How successful are presidents in getting their policy positions enacted into law, and what configurations of institutional and actor-centered conditions determine presidential legislative success? The analyses show that in an hyper-polarized environment, presidents usually have to fight an uphill-battle in the legislative arena, getting more involved if they face less favorable contexts and the odds are against them. Moreover, the analyses suggest that there is no silver-bullet approach for presidents' legislative success. Instead, multiple patterns of success exist as presidents - depending on the institutional and public environment - can resort to different combinations of actions in order to see their preferred policy outcomes enacted

Responsive Politikgestaltung in den deutschen Bundesländern? Versuch einer Systematisierung und Konzeption eines Forschungsprogramms

Die politikwissenschaftliche Literatur zum deutschen Föderalismus ist überaus vielfältig. Neben Analysen der institutionellen Arrangements, ihrer Veränderungen sowie der Dynamiken des deutschen Verbundföderalismus, finden sich auch zahlreiche Untersuchungen zu einzelnen Politikfeldern, die sowohl die Interaktionen zwischen Bund und Ländern als auch die Varianz zwischen den Policies der Länder samt ihrer Bestimmungsfaktoren untersuchen. Darüber hinaus haben sich in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten eigene Forschungszweige zu Parteien im Bundesstaat und zur Parlamentsforschung auf Länderebene etabliert. Trotz dieser großen Forschungsaktivität sind jedoch einige zentrale Fragen der Politikwissenschaft zum Zusammenspiel zwischen Wählern, Parteien, Parlamenten und Regierungen sowie deren Wirkung auf politischen Outputs und Outcomes weiterhin unbeantwortet. Dies ist, so das Argument dieses Beitrags, insbesondere der fehlenden Zusammenführung einzelner Literaturstränge und der noch unzureichenden empirischen Datenbasis geschuldet. Mittels einer Systematisierung des gegenwärtigen Literaturstands entwirft der Aufsatz ein Forschungsprogramm, das auf eine umfassende Analyse des politischen Willensbildungs- und Entscheidungsfindungsprozesses in den deutschen Bundesländern abstellt und Fragen der Responsivität und Rückkopplung systematisch in den Blick nimmt

A nation-wide experiment: fuel tax cuts and almost free public transport for three months in Germany -- Report 2 First wave results

In spring 2022, the German federal government agreed on a set of measures that aim at reducing households' financial burden resulting from a recent price increase, especially in energy and mobility. These measures include among others, a nation-wide public transport ticket for 9 EUR per month and a fuel tax cut that reduces fuel prices by more than 15%. In transportation research this is an almost unprecedented behavioral experiment. It allows to study not only behavioral responses in mode choice and induced demand but also to assess the effectiveness of transport policy instruments. We observe this natural experiment with a three-wave survey and an app-based travel diary on a sample of hundreds of participants as well as an analysis of traffic counts. In this second report, we update the information on study participation, provide first insights on the smartphone app usage as well as insights on the first wave results, particularly on the 9 EUR-ticket purchase intention

Prediabetes is associated with microalbuminuria, reduced kidney function and chronic kidney disease in the general population

Background and Aims: We investigated the associations of serum fasting (FG) and 2-h postload (2HG) glucose from an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), fasting insulin and the homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR) with urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Methods and Results: We performed cross-sectional analyses of 2713 subjects (1429 women; 52.7%) without known type 2 diabetes, aged 31-82 years, from the KORA (Cooperative Health Research in the Augsburg Region) F4-Study. FG, 2HG, HbA1c, fasting insulin, HOMA-IR and glucose tolerance categories were analyzed for association with ACR and eGFR in multivariable adjusted linear and median regression models, and with isolated microalbuminuria (i-MA), isolated reduced kidney function (i-RKF) and chronic kidney disease (CKD, defined as MA and/or RKF) in multivariable adjusted logistic regression models. Among the 2713 study participants, 28% revealed prediabetes (isolated impaired fasting glucose [i-IFG], isolated glucose tolerance [i-IGT] or both by American Diabetes Association definition), 4.2% had unknown type 2 diabetes, 6.5% had i-MA, 3.1% i-RKF and 10.9% CKD. In multivariable adjusted analysis, all continuous variables (FG, 2HG, HbA1c, fasting insulin and HOMA-IR) were associated with i-MA, i-RKF and CKD. The odds ratios (ORs) for i-MA and CKD were 1.54 (95% confidence interval: 1.02-2.33) and 1.58 (1.10-2.25) for individuals with i-IFG. Moreover, the OR for i-RKF was 2.57 (1.31-5.06) for individuals with IFG + IGT. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that prediabetes might have harmful effects on the kidney

Prediabetes is associated with lower brain gray matter volume in the general population. The Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP)

Background and aims: We investigated the associations of fasting (FG) and 2h postload (2HG) plasma glucose from oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) with gray (GMV) and white (WMV) matter volume. Methods and results: We analyzed data from 1330 subjects without known diabetes mellitus, aged 21 to 81, from the second cohort (SHIP-Trend-0) of the population-based Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP). Following the OGTT, individuals were classified in five groups (according to the American Diabetes Association criteria): normal glucose tolerance (NGT), isolated impaired fasting glucose (i-IFG), isolated impaired glucose tolerance (i-IGT), combined IFG and IGT (IFG + IGT) and unknown type 2 diabetes mellitus (UDM). GMV and WMV were determined by magnetic resonance imaging. FG, 2HG and OGTT groups were associated with GMV and WMV by linear regression models adjusted for confounders. FG and 2HG were inversely associated with GMV. The adjusted mean GMV, when compared with the NGT group (584 ml [95% CI: 581 to 587]), was significantly lower in the groups i-IFG (578 ml [95% CI: 573 to 582]; p=0.035) and UDM (562 ml [95% CI: 551 to 573]; p < 0.001), but not different in the i-IGT (586 ml [95% CI: 576 to 596]; p=0.688) and IFG + IGT (579ml [95% CI: 571 to 586]; p=0.209) groups. There were no associations of FG, 2HG and OGTT parameters with WMV. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that elevated FG levels, even within the prediabetic range, might already have some harmful effects on GMV. (c) 2017 The Italian Society of Diabetology, the Italian Society for the Study of Atherosclerosis, the Italian Society of Human Nutrition, and the Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Migration matters: regulatory T-cell compartmentalization determines suppressive activity in vivo

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) play a fundamental role in the suppression of different immune responses; however, compartments at which they exert suppressive functions in vivo are unknown. Although many groups have described the presence of Tregs within inflammatory sites, it has not been shown that inflamed tissues are, indeed, the sites of active suppression of ongoing immune reactions. Here, by using αE+ effector/memory-like Tregs from fucosyltransferase VII-deficient animals, which lack E/P-selectin ligands and fail to migrate into inflamed sites, we analyzed the functional importance of appropriate Treg localization for in vivo suppressive capacity in an inflammation model. Lack of suppression by Tregs deficient in E/P-selectin ligands demonstrates that immigration into inflamed sites is a prerequisite for the resolution of inflammatory reactions in vivo because these selectin ligands merely regulate entry into inflamed tissues. In contrast, control of proliferation of naive CD4+ T cells during the induction phase of the immune response is more efficiently exerted by the naive-like αE–CD25+ Treg subset preferentially recirculating through lymph nodes when compared with its inflammation-seeking counterpart. Together, these findings provide the first conclusive evidence that appropriate localization is crucial for in vivo activity of Tregs and might have significant implications for anti-inflammatory therapies targeting recruitment mechanisms