by Barbara Befani, May 2016. Published by the Expert Group for Aid Studies, Stockholm. Available in hardcover and as pdf
“Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) is a method particularly well suited for systematic and rigorous comparisons and synthesis of information over a limited number of cases. In addition to a presentation of the method, this report provides an innovative step-wise guide on how to apply and quality-assure the application of QCA to real-life development evaluation, indicating the common mistakes and challenges for each step.”
Rick Davies Comment: This is an important publication, worth spending some time with. It is a detailed guide on the use of QCA, written specially for use by evaluators. Barbara Befani has probably more experience and knowledge of the use of QCA for evaluation purposes than anyone else. This is where she has distilled all her knowledge to date. There are lots of practical examples of the use of QCA scattered throughout the book, used to support particular points about how QCA works. It is not an easy book to read but is well worth the effort because there is so much that is of value. It is the kind of book you probably will return to many times. I have read pre-publication drafts of the book and the final version and will be undoubtedly returning to different sections again in the future. While this book presents QCA as a package, as is normal, there are many ideas and practices in the book which are useful in themselves. For some of my thoughts on this view of QCA you can see my comments made at the book launch a week ago (in very rough PowerPoint form:A response, The need-to-knows when commissioning evaluations)