Large-N Qualitative Analysis

• In Event: Qualitative Research: Rethinking Boundaries and Expanding Frontiers

Abstract

This paper reviews a developing qualitative research practice that we call “large-N qualitative analysis” (LNQA). The core of the methodology lies in exploring postulated causal mechanisms within individual cases, but for a relatively large number of cases or even the entire population. The approach raises a number of methodological issues, including selection on X and Y and how to use distributions of cases to test for necessary and sufficient conditions. It also raises wider epistemological questions about how to generalize and the relationship between type and token causal inference.

Authors

• Stephan Haggard, University of California, San Diego

• Gary Goertz