Ingo RohlfingUniversität Passau
Ingo Rohlfing
Diplom
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Publications (70)
The article develops a catalog of eleven scientific quality criteria for sociological research papers from an analytical-empirical perspective. The criteria catalog includes quality requirements for theory development and empirical social research. A distinction is made between two basic criteria that address the entire research process, nine core...
In empirical research, scholars can choose between an exploratory causes-of-effects analysis, a confirmatory effects-of-causes approach, or a mechanism-of-effects analysis that can be either exploratory or confirmatory. Understanding the choice between the approaches is important for two reasons. First, the added value of each approach depends on h...
Zusammenfassung
Der Artikel entwickelt einen Katalog von elf wissenschaftlichen Gütekriterien für soziologische Forschungsarbeiten aus einer analytisch-empirischen Perspektive. Der Kriterienkatalog umfasst Qualitätsanforderungen an die Theorieentwicklung und die empirische Sozialforschung. Unterschieden werden zwei Basiskriterien, die den gesamten...
The debate about the characteristics and advantages of quantitative and qualitative methods is decades old. In their seminal monograph, A Tale of Two Cultures (2012 , ATTC), Gary Goertz and James Mahoney argue that methods and research design practices for causal inference can be distinguished as two cultures that systematically differ from each ot...
Postprint. Please cite as: Rixen, Thomas and Ingo Rohlfing (2007) The Institutional Choice of Bilateralism and Multilateralism in International Trade and Taxation, International Negotiation 12 (3), 389-414. https://doi.org/10.1163/138234007X240718
Empirical researchers using qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) can work with crisp, multivalue, and fuzzy sets. The relative advantages of crisp and multivalue sets have been discussed in the QCA literature. There has been little reflection on the more frequent decision between crisp and fuzzy sets for which there often is no theoretical guidan...
Set‐theoretic multimethod research (SMMR) using Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) formalizes the choice of cases based on a truth table analysis. We make three recommendations for improving SMMR. First, current standards can lead to faulty case selection if causal inference on a conjunction is the goal. Case selection needs to take into accoun...
Does economic globalization influence the positioning of parties and, as a consequence, the ideological characteristics of party systems? Answering this question is important because we need to understand the constraints that parties face in formulating policies from which voters have to choose. In our paper, we take a systemic perspective and conc...
Estimates for imports in baseline model with case-wise deletion.
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Results for KOF indices of de facto economic globalization.
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Estimates for exports in baseline model with case-wise deletion.
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Model with trade balance, moving-window analysis.
Numbers next to confidence intervals are observations per regression. We run the moving-window analysis with the trade balance variable instead of imports and exports to account for multicollinearity in the baseline model because of the correlation between imports and exports. The results confirm th...
Regression results for alternative constructions of the dependent variable.
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Results for KOF de facto economic, political and social globalization.
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Country-wise deletion, imports.
1 Austria, 2 Belgium, 3 Cyprus, 4 Denmark, 5 Finland, 6 Germany, 7 Greece, 8 Ireland, 9 Italy, 10 Luxembourg, 11 Netherlands, 12 Portugal, 13 Spain, 14 Sweden, 15 United Kingdom.
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Country-wise deletion, exports.
1 Austria, 2 Belgium, 3 Cyprus, 4 Denmark, 5 Finland, 6 Germany, 7 Greece, 8 Ireland, 9 Italy, 10 Luxembourg, 11 Netherlands, 12 Portugal, 13 Spain, 14 Sweden, 15 United Kingdom.
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De jure trade and financial globalization (one-year lag).
Lowess smoother, bandwith = 0.5.
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Theories of causation in philosophy ask what makes causal claims true and establish the so-called truth conditions allowing one to separate causal from noncausal relationships. We argue that social scientists should be aware of truth conditions of causal claims because they imply which method of causal inference can establish whether a specific cla...
Based on the statistical analysis of an original survey of young party members from six European democracies, a study concluded that three types of young members differed systematically regarding their membership objectives, activism, efficacy and perceptions of the party and self-perceived political future. We performed a technical replication of...
In Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), empirical researchers use the consistency value as one, if not sole, criterion to decide whether an association between a term and an outcome is consistent with a set-relational claim. Braumoeller (2015) points out that the consistency value is unsuitable for this purpose. We need to know the probability o...
Response to multiple discussions of configurational comparative methods in the newsletter of APSA Section on Qualitative Multimethod Research, volume 14, issue 1 (https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/uploadedFiles/moynihan/cqrm/Newsletter%2012_1.pdf). The full newsletter in which the response was published is accessible here: https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/upl...
Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) is a method for cross-case analyses that works best when complemented with follow-up case studies focusing on the causal quality of the solution and its constitutive terms, the underlying causal mechanisms, and potentially omitted conditions. The anchorage of QCA in set theory demands criteria for follow-up ca...
In their 2012 publication A Tale of Two Cultures, Gary Goertz and James Mahoney argue that empirical research in the social sciences aiming at causal inference can be differentiated into a qualitative and a quantitative methodological culture. The two cultures differ fundamentally in how researchers approach and implement empirical studies. The arg...
The combination of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) with process tracing, which we call set-theoretic multimethod research (MMR), is steadily becoming more popular in empirical research. Despite the fact that both methods have an elected affinity based on set theory, it is not obvious how a within-case method operating in a single case and a...
This is a preprint of the manuscript accepted for publication by Sociological Methods & Research
In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the combination of two methods on the basis of set theory. In our introduction and this special issue, we focus on two variants of cross-case set-theoretic methods - Qualitative Comparative Analysi...
This is a preprint of the manuscript accepted for publication by Sociological Methods & Research
In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the combination of two methods on the basis of set theory. In our introduction and this special issue, we focus on two variants of cross-case set-theoretic methods - Qualitative Comparative Analysi...
In a simulation-based analysis of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), Krogslund et al. (2015) conclude that its performance is suboptimal in several settings. I review their simulation setups and discuss three errors that were made in their analysis. First, the simulations involving inclusion thresholds are overpowered based on a misunderstandi...
In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the combination of two methods on the basis of set theory. In our introduction and this special issue, we focus on two variants of cross-case set-theoretic methods—qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) and typological theory (TT)—and their combination with process tracing (PT). Our goal is to...
QCA has recently been subject to massive criticism and although the substance of that criticism is not completely new, it differs from earlier critiques by invoking simulations for the evaluation of QCA. In addition to debates about the meaning of the simulation results, there is a more fundamental discussion about whether simulations promise any r...
The role of members of political parties is ambiguous because it entails both benefits and costs. In order to shed light on the question of whether members are an asset or a liability for parties, I examine whether parties use their ideology on a left–right dimension as a collective incentive for the appeal to actual and potential party members. A...
The social sciences are currently witnessing a trend toward multi-method research (MMR). However, many important issues have not been sufficiently addressed so far. The focus of this paper is case selection for process tracing on the basis of regression results, which is the main point of intersection between the two methods. Based on a review, we...
Set-theoretic methods and Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) in particular are case-based methods. There are, however, only few guidelines on how to combine them with qualitative case studies. Contributing to the literature on multi-method research (MMR), we offer the first comprehensive elaboration of principles for the integration of QCA and...
Causal inference via process tracing has received increasing attention during recent years. A 2x2 typology of hypothesis tests takes a central place in this debate. A discussion of the typology demonstrates that its role for causal inference can be improved further in three respects. First, the aim of this paper is to formulate case selection princ...
In recent years, Comparative Historical Analysis (CHA) has been developed as a methodological apparatus that is distinct from quantitative research in many respects. While this is correct, it is less apparent to what extent CHA is different from and adds something to the tools and techniques known from ordinary case study research (i.e., not tied t...
A fit between theory and method is essential in theory – guided empirical research. Achieving such a fit in process tracing is less straightforward than it may seem at first glance. There are two different types of processes that one can theorise and, consequently, two varieties of process tracing. The two varieties are introduced by empirical exam...
Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) is a method for cross-case analyses that works best when complemented with follow-up case studies focusing on the causal quality of the solution and its constitutive terms, the underlying causal mechanisms, and potentially omitted conditions. The anchorage of QCA in set theory demands criteria for follow-up ca...
One of John Gerring’s aims in his intriguing treatment of social science methodology is the development of a unified account for causal inference on the basis of the potential outcomes (PO) framework (Gerring, John (2012): Social Science Methodology: A Unified Framework. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.). Over the past two decades, the PO fra...
This book started with two main assertions. First, a case study crucially though not exclusively depends on the research goal, the level of analysis, the nature of the causal effect, and the mode of causal inference in hypothesis-testing case studies. The chapters that followed confirmed this assertion and demonstrated that it is important to grasp...
The previous chapter showed that cross-case comparisons tend to be plagued by manifest problems connected with the generation of unambiguous causal inferences. Being cognizant of these problems, the small-n literature made several recommendations that aim at improving cross-case comparisons (King et al. 1994, 208–13; Lijphart 1971, 686–90). The pre...
The challenge of generating internally valid explanations is to separate the causes that bring about the outcome from those factors that are not of general relevance (Geddes 2003, chap. 1, King et al. 1994, chap. 3). This chapter and the following one provide a comprehensive discussion of causal inference and internal validity, partially drawing on...
The final task of case study research interested in regularities involves the generalization of causal inferences from those cases that one did examine to those cases that are part of the population and have not been analyzed.1 In qualitative case studies, one generalizes inferences about causal effects and causal mechanisms because a regularities...
The previous chapter dealt with challenges that one confronts in collecting and using evidence for the generation of causal inferences. The challenges and means to address them pertain to case studies that build hypothesis, test them, or seek to modify them in order to make sense of puzzling cases. A separate and important topic reserved for this c...
The goal of generating statements about empirical regularities implies that a population of cases exists to which these statements extend. Unless one is able to examine all cases in the population, something that might be possible when the population is small, one faces the pertinent challenge of case selection. The systematic choice of cases is cr...
Process tracing represents the empirical core of many, if not most, case studies because inferences on causal mechanism and processes often are at the heart of small-n research (Mahoney 2007a, 2007b). The literature on process tracing and mechanisms burgeoned over the last years and contributed to the improvement of causal inference in within-case...
In principle, comparisons can be made on the cross-case level, the withincase level, and both simultaneously (see Section 1.4). A within-case comparison is appropriate for discerning whether the causal mechanism and causal processes are similar in the two (or more) cases at hand. In a cross-case comparison, on the other hand, one is determining the...
Case studies are performed in a wide array of disciplines such as political science, sociology, history, and, to a lesser degree, economics. The philosophical foundations of the case study method vary across disciplines as well as within each discipline (Jackson 2010). The general notion of small-n research does not preclude any philosophical groun...
The social sciences are witnessing a growing body of multilevel theories and debates about the proper methodological tools for the analysis of multilevel data. In a recent contribution to this journal, multilevel Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) was proposed as a new methodological tool for discerning set-relational patterns in multilevel dat...
After a long and often fiercely fought debate over the respective values of quantitative and qualitative methods in the social sciences, multi-method research (MMR) is emerging as a new methodological paradigm. The debate on MMR meets with the ongoing discussion about standards of good causal inference and explanation. It is now widely acknowledged...
Discrimination is generally conceived of as a feature of protectionism and the source of retaliatory spirals. In this paper, I argue that this perspective on trade discrimination is conceptually and empirically deficient. The extent of discrimination is almost exclusively considered with respect to the form of cooperation, that is, the number of co...
Vergleichende Fallstudiendesigns gehören einerseits zu den populärsten Designs in der Politikwissenschaft (vgl. Munck/Snyder 2007), waren andererseits in der Vergangenheit aber auch häufig Gegenstand massiver methodischer Kritik. Eine der älteren Kritiken
stammt von (1971: 685), der experimentelle und statistische Untersuchungen als methodologisch...
In a recent contribution to this journal, Munck and Snyder found that many studies suffer from a deficient application of qualitative and quantitative methods. They argue that the combination of small-n and large-n analysis represents a viable method for promoting the production of knowledge. Recently, Evan Lieberman proposed nested analysis as a r...
In the literature on international trade, the second half of the nineteenth century is generally characterized as one with two very different faces: trade was liberalized from 1860 until the mid-1870s and turned protectionist again thereafter. This discontinuity in the development of commercial relations goes along with much continuity regarding th...
Trade relations are governed by a multilateral agreement, whereas the avoidance of double taxation rests on a network of about 2000 separate bilateral treaties. What accounts for the difference in the institutional form? Distinguishing between the bargaining and agreement stage of international cooperation, we first show that the institutional desi...
When and why are cabinet ministers forced out of office? We argue that ministerial resignations cannot be understood as mechanistic consequences of serious personal or departmental errors as the classical responsibility hypothesis implies. Rather, they follow a systematic political logic. Cabinet ministers have to resign whenever the prime minister...
During the nineties, Europe became a major recipient of FDIs but Italian regions have been largely excluded from this process. Was it due to their characteristics, or were Italian regions “doomed” by a negative country effect? In this paper we address this issue by estimating the determinants of multinational firms’ location choices in 52 EU region...
