Necessary condition analysis (NCA) has recently been proposed to researchers in business, management, organization, psychology, sociology, and even medicine as a new data analysis tool for identifying necessary but insufficient causes of an outcome. In this comment, I demonstrate that NCA is inadequate for performing such inferences. The reason is a mismatch between the method’s purported search target and its actual output. Moreover, I show that, even if its output corresponded to its search target, the method of qualitative comparative analysis would always outperform NCA in all relevant respects.
de VriesJ.de KosterR.RijsdijkS.RoyR. D.. 2017. “Determinants of Safe and Productive Truck Driving: Empirical Evidence from Long-Haul Cargo Transport.” Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review97:113–31.
7.
DulJ.2016a. “Identifying Single Necessary Conditions with NCA and fsQCA.” Journal of Business Research69:1516–23.
8.
DulJ.2016b. “Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA): Logic and Methodology of “Necessary but Not Sufficient” Causality.” Organizational Research Methods19:10–52.
DulJ.HakT.GoertzG.VossC.. 2010. “Necessary Condition Hypotheses in Operations Management.” International Journal of Operations & Production Management30:1170–90.
11.
DuşaA.ThiemA.. 2015. “Enhancing the Minimization of Boolean and Multivalue Output Functions with eQMC.” Journal of Mathematical Sociology39:92–108.
12.
EdwardsF. H.1973. The Principles of Switching Circuits. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
13.
GoertzG.HakT.DulJ.. 2013. “Ceilings and Floors: Where Are There No Observations?” Sociological Methods & Research42:3–40.
14.
GraßhoffG.MayM.. 2001. “Causal Regularities.” Pp. 85–113 in Current Issues in Causation, edited by SpohnWolfgangLedwigMarionEsfeldMichael. . Münster, Germany: Mentis.
15.
KimJ.1971. “Causes and Events: Mackie on Causation.” Journal of Philosophy68:426–41.
16.
MackieJ. L.1980. The Cement of the Universe: A Study of Causation. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
17.
McCluskeyE. J.1956. “Minimization of Boolean Functions.” Bell Systems Technical Journal35:1417–44.
PearlJ.2009. Causality: Models, Reasoning, and Inference. 2nd ed. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
20.
PsillosS.2009. “Regularity Theories.” Pp. 131–57 in The Oxford Handbook of Causation, edited by BeebeeHelenHitchcockChristopherMenziesPeter. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
21.
QuineW. V.1952. “The Problem of Simplifying Truth Functions.” American Mathematical Monthly59:521–31.
22.
RaginC. C.DaveyS.. 2017. fs/QCA: fuzzy-set/Qualitative Comparative Analysis, Version 3.0. Irvine: University of California, Department of Sociology.
23.
ThiemA.2014. “Navigating the Complexities of Qualitative Comparative Analysis: Case Numbers, Necessity Relations, and Model Ambiguities.” Evaluation Review38:487–513.
24.
ThiemA.2015. “Using Qualitative Comparative Analysis for Identifying Causal Chains in Configurational Data: A Methodological Commentary on Baumgartner and Epple (2014).” Sociological Methods & Research44:723–36.
25.
ThiemA.2016. “Standards of Good Practice and the Methodology of Necessary Conditions in Qualitative Comparative Analysis.” Political Analysis24:478–84.
26.
ThiemA.2017a. “Conducting Configurational Comparative Research with Qualitative Comparative Analysis: A Hands-on Tutorial for Applied Evaluation Scholars and Practitioners.” American Journal of Evaluation38:420–33.
27.
ThiemA.2017b. “Beyond the Facts: Limited Empirical Diversity and the Incorrectness of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA)”. Paper presented at the 7th Annual General Conference of the European Political Science Association, 22-24 June, Milan, Italy. Retrieved March 5, 2018 (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alrik_Thiem).
28.
ThiemA.2018. QCApro: Advanced Functionality for Performing and Evaluating Qualitative Comparative Analysis. R Package Version 1.1-2. Retrieved March 5, 2018 (http://www.alrik-thiem.net/software/).
29.
ThiemA.DuşaA.. 2012. “Introducing the QCA Package: A Market Analysis and Software Review.” Qualitative & Multi-Method Research10:45–49.
30.
ThiemA.DuşaA.. 2013. “Boolean Minimization in Social Science Research: A Review of Current Software for Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA).” Social Science Computer Review31:505–21.
31.
ThiemA.BaumgartnerM.. 2016a. “Modeling Causal Irrelevance in Evaluations of Configurational Comparative Methods.” Sociological Methodology46:345–57.
32.
ThiemA.BaumgartnerM.. 2016b. “Back to Square One: A Reply to Munck, Paine, and Schneider.” Comparative Political Studies49:801–06.
33.
ThiemA.BaumgartnerM.BolD.. 2016. “Still Lost in Translation! A Correction of Three Misunderstandings between Configurational Comparativists and Regressional Analysts.” Comparative Political Studies49:742–74.
34.
ThiemA.SpöhelR.DuşaA.. 2016. “Enhancing Sensitivity Diagnostics for Qualitative Comparative Analysis: A Combinatorial Approach.” Political Analysis24:104–20.
35.
van der ValkW.SumoR.DulJ.SchroederR. G.. 2016. “When Are Contracts and Trust Necessary for Innovation in Buyer-Supplier Relationships? A Necessary Condition Analysis.” Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management22:266–77.
36.
VisB.DulJ.. 2018. “Analyzing Relationships of Necessity Not Just in Kind but also in Degree: Complementing fsQCA with NCA.” Sociological Methods & Research47(4):872–99. doi: 10.1177/0049124115626179.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
