5 - INUS Conditions

Summary

The full level of complexity consists of the joint presence of disjunctions and conjunctions. This chapter illustrates how all SMMR principles, types of cases, ranks, and formulas introduced in the previous chapters suffice to guide case selection for within-case analysis. Using empirical examples, it illustrates the various relations of necessity and sufficiency that can occur between the cross-case condition and outcome, on the one hand, and the mechanism at the within-case level, on the other. The chapter also explains how and why all QCA solution types – conservative, most parsimonious, intermediate – can serve as the basis for causal and descriptive inference in SMMR. Learning goals: - Practice all SMMR designs on a typical QCA solution formula showing full complexity (disjuncts and conjuncts) - Get acquainted with the conclusions drawn from evidence on a case’s membership in the within-case mechanisms - Understand that all QCA solution types – conservative, intermediate, most parsimonious – can be the basis for descriptive and causal inference SMMR designs