CECAN Ltd CPD Course: Qualitative Comparative Analysis
Date:
11/09/2025
Organised by:
Centre for the Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus (CECAN)
Presenter:
Dr Corinna Elsenbroich
Level:
Intermediate (some prior knowledge)
Contact:
Venue: Online
Description:
CECAN Ltd CPD Online Workshop: Qualitative Comparative Analysis
Thursday 11th September 2025, 09:30 – 17:00, Live Online Training (via Zoom)
Tutor: Corinna Elsenbroich, CECAN Research Fellow and Reader at the MRC/CSO Social & Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow
Course Details:
This course is an introduction to Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). QCA is a method for the comparative study of cases and is used to analyse qualitative social data systematically. The analysis compares cases by assigning set memberships across a set of attributes.
QCA is particularly good at understanding multiple causation because it is focused on causal recipes (combination of causes) rather than individual variables. This helps with understanding (different) causal pathways in policy evaluation settings.
The course will look at the theoretical and practical aspects of QCA, working through a detailed example using the fsQCA software package to understand crisp and fuzzy set QCA.
This course is intended for those who have some experience of evaluation.
Learning Outcomes:
By the end of this workshop, participants will:
Understand why and where QCA is a useful method
Be able to prepare data for use in a QCA
Develop a basic understanding of the fsQCA software for application for QCA
Intended Audience: CECAN Ltd’s CPD workshops are designed to support those at all levels working in consultancy, NGOs, government, academia and other evaluation settings who face complexity challenges in their current work.
Tutor Biography:
Corinna Elsenbroich is a Reader in Computational Modelling at Glasgow University (MRC/CSO Social & Public Health Sciences Unit). Corinna is particularly interested in methodological and epistemological aspects of novel methods, in particular computational methods such as agent-based modelling and social simulation, and has published on aspects of ontology, explanatory power and context validity in modelling. As a computational modeller she has developed models of dynamic social networks of juvenile delinquency, neighbourhood effects of extortion racketeering and collective reasoning in social dilemma situations. She is particularly interested in complexity sensitive social science methods, comprising computational, case based and participatory methods. As a co-investigator in the Centre for Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus (CECAN) she is involved with developing these methods in a policy relevant way. She is currently working on how to combine methods through novel research designs.
CECAN Ltd is the commercial arm of the ESRC funded Centre for Evaluating Complexity across the Nexus (CECAN). It offers access to innovative policy evaluation approaches and methods to support decision makers.
Cost:
Course Fees:
Tickets for this workshop are:
Government / commercial: £250 per person
Academic / charitable institutions: £225 per person
Students (including Postgraduate Researchers): £200 per person
EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT: a discount of 10% will be applied to all tickets purchased by 31st May 2025.
All prices are exclusive of VAT where applicable.
The CECAN research centre has funding for a limited number of bursaries to support Early Career Researchers and Postgraduate Researchers working across the social and natural sciences to further develop their skills in policy evaluation methods from a complex systems perspective – more information here: https://www.cecan.ac.uk/cecan-training-bursaries/
Website and registration:
Region:
International
Keywords:
Frameworks for Research and Research Designs, Comparative research, Evaluation Research, Policy evaluation, Case Study, Qualitative Data Handling and Data Analysis, Qualitative Comparative Analysis, Mixed Methods Data Handling and Data Analysis, Research Management and Impact, Research Skills, Communication and Dissemination, qca, complexity, evaluation, policy evaluation, fsQCA
Related publications and presentations from our eprints archive:
Frameworks for Research and Research Designs
Comparative research
Evaluation Research
Policy evaluation
Case Study
Qualitative Data Handling and Data Analysis
Qualitative Comparative Analysis
Mixed Methods Data Handling and Data Analysis
Research Management and Impact
Research Skills, Communication and Dissemination