06 Case Selection and Study Design for Qualitative Research

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[q] Process-tracing observation (within a case) that captures a sequence of events, phases, or characteristics at a given point within a larger “case”

[a] causal process observation (CPO)

[q] An exhaustive listing of all elements (individuals, cases, etc.) of the population

[a] population census

[q] Study of the effects of changing one variable from a given state or value to another; often used to refer to hypotheses derived from formal or similar models about the effects of changing variable values

[a] comparative statics

[q] A variable whose value does not change across cases; OR another name for the intercept in regression

[a] constant

[q] A standard qualitative or quantitative observation establishing one and only one value for every variable for each case in the dataset

[a] dataset observation (DSO)

[q] The point-and-click menus in a software platform

[a] graphical user interface (GUI)

[q] A context in which a theory is least likely to be successful

[a] hard test

[q] Situation where cases assigned to experimental and control conditions are determined by nature or exogenous forces, but outcome is arguably random or very close to it

[a] natural experiment

[q] Cases whose significance to hypothesis testing is the absence of the phenomenon of interest

[a] negative evidence

[q] The set of all cases relevant to a theory

[a] population

[q] Guideline for choosing negative cases for qualitative analysis: at least one IV takes a value that theory claims is crucial for the DV to occur, and no IVs predict against the outcome of interest

[a] Possibility Principle

[q] A deliberately selected subset of cases chosen for their values on particular key variables

[a] purposive sample

[q] Qualitative data source: reports produced on a systematic and recurrent basis: hourly, daily, annually, etc.

[a] running record

[q] Inductive qualitative research technique involving deep immersion in a social context

[a] soaking and poking

[q] Variables that we believe influence the DV along with our IV(s) of interest; must be accounted for in any qualitative or quantitative analysis to obtain accurate results

[a] control variables

[q] The result of analyzing data that suffer from a selection effect

[a] selection bias

[q] Natural or man-made processes produce an observed sample that is a biased subset of the underlying population; all cases do not have an equal effect of entering the observed sample

[a] selection effect

[q] Roughly speaking, the number of independent pieces of information available for analysis after various calculations constrain the data

[a] degrees of freedom (d.f.)

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