{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,1]],"date-time":"2026-05-01T13:08:10Z","timestamp":1777640890777,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2009,6,23]],"date-time":"2009-06-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1245715200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Field Methods"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2009,8]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>This article assesses the strengths and shortcomings of multi-value qualitative comparative analysis (mvQCA), a comparative technique for small- to medium-sized data sets that has been integrated in the TOSMANA software developed by Lasse Cronqvist. The main difference with \u201ccrisp-set\u201d QCA is that in mvQCA, the conditions can have more values than just the Boolean values 0 and 1, whereas the main difference with \u201cfuzzy-set\u201d QCA is that mvQCA conditions remain discrete. The major advantage of nondichotomous categorization, according to its proponents, is that it reduces the likelihood of contradictory configurations because of a more homogeneous grouping of cases. We give an overview of existing mvQCA applications, with a detailed discussion of two recent publications, and argue that crisp-set and fuzzy-set alternatives should be less easily discarded, as the mvQCA solution comes with substantial set-theoretical costs.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/1525822x09332633","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2009,7,22]],"date-time":"2009-07-22T01:33:03Z","timestamp":1248226383000},"page":"265-289","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":79,"title":["Not Quite Crisp, Not Yet Fuzzy? Assessing the Potentials and Pitfalls of Multi-value QCA"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"21","author":[{"given":"Maarten P.","family":"Vink","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Maastricht University \/ University of Lisbon"}]},{"given":"Olaf","family":"Van Vliet","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Leiden University"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2009,6,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"atypb1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1475-6765.2007.00768.x"},{"issue":"3","key":"atypb2","first-page":"253","volume":"26","author":"Berg-Schlosser, D.","year":"1994","journal-title":"Comparative Political Studies"},{"key":"atypb3","volume-title":"Electoral engineering and inclusion of ethnic groups: Ethnic minorities in parliaments of Central and Eastern European countries","author":"Bochsler, D.","year":"2006"},{"key":"atypb4","volume-title":"12th International Conference on VLSI Design-VLSI for information appliance","author":"Brayton, R.K."},{"key":"atypb5","volume-title":"Introduction to fuzzy sets, fuzzy logic and fuzzy control systems","author":"Chen, G.","year":"2001"},{"key":"atypb6","volume-title":"Presentation of TOSMANA: Adding multi-value variables and visual aids to QCA","author":"Cronqvist, L.","year":"2004"},{"key":"atypb7","volume-title":"Introduction to multi-value qualitative comparative analysis (MVQCA)","year":"2005"},{"key":"atypb8","volume-title":"Konfigurationelle analyse mit multi-value QCA als methode der vergleichenden politikwissenschaft mit einem fallbeispiel aus der vergleichenden parteienforschung (erfolg gr\u00fcner parteien in den achtziger jahren) [Configurational analysis with multi-value QCA as method for comparative political science with an illustrating case from comparative party research (success of green parties in the eighties]. PhD diss","year":"2007"},{"key":"atypb9","volume-title":"TOSMANA: Tool for small-N analysis (version 1.3)","year":"2007"},{"key":"atypb10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Cronqvist, L., and D. Berg-Schlosser . 2006. Determining the conditions of HIV\/AIDS prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa. Employing new tools of macro-qualitative analysis. In Innovative comparative methods for policy analysis , ed. B. Rihoux and H. Grimm, 145-66. New York: Springer .","DOI":"10.1007\/0-387-28829-5_7"},{"key":"atypb11","volume-title":"Multi-value QCA (mvQCA)","author":"B. Rihoux","year":"2008"},{"key":"atypb12","volume-title":"Qualitative comparative analysis 3.0","author":"Drass, K.A.","year":"1992"},{"key":"atypb13","unstructured":"Goertz, G. 2003. Cause, correlation, and necessary conditions. In Necessary conditions: Theory, methodology and applications, ed. G. Goertz and H. Starr, 47-64. 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Qualitative comparative analysis using fuzzy sets (fsQCA) . In Configurational comparative methods, ed. B. Rihoux and G. De Meur , 87-121. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage."},{"key":"atypb23","volume-title":"Fuzzy-set\/qualitative comparative analysis 2.0","author":"Ragin, C.C.","year":"2006"},{"key":"atypb24","volume-title":"Between complexity and parsimony: Limited diversity, counterfactual cases, and comparative analysis","author":"Ragin, C.C.","year":"2004"},{"key":"atypb25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1525822X03257690"},{"key":"atypb26","volume-title":"Qualitative comparative analysis using Boolean sets (csQCA)","author":"Rihoux, B.","year":"2008"},{"key":"atypb27","volume-title":"Configurational comparative methods","author":"Rihoux, B.","year":"2008"},{"key":"atypb28","volume-title":"It might look like a regression equation . . . but it's not! 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