Exploring Qualitative Comparative Analysis in IS Research

Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) has been proposed as a promising qualitative data analysis strategy to study complex problems. QCA provides multiple conjunctural causation that can address generalizability concerns associated with case study research within the IS and other social science disciplines. However, there are not many studies that offer guidelines on how to effectively apply this methodology to IS research. This paper outlines a set of methodological principles for using QCA. An illustrative example of case studies of collaborative networks is discussed to demonstrate the application of QCA.

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