Case-based methods have a long history in the social sciences. They are extensively used and raise many practical and theoretical questions. This book provides a comprehensive, critical examination of case-oriented research. It offers concrete proposals about the best research methods and provides an unparalleled guide to the emergence and complexity of the field.

This book is designed to help anyone understand the basics of fuzzy sets, whether or not they have a mathematical background. The book first presents a basic grounding in information theory, classical logic and set theories. Next, it introduces the basics of fuzzy sets, distinguishing them from traditional crisp sets, and introducing the concept of membership function. The distinctions between classical and fuzzy relations are introduced, as are representations of fuzzy relations; fuzzy equivalence relations; fuzzy partial orderings, and related topics. The book introduces fuzzy arithmetic and fuzzy numbers. It also presents a detailed introduction to fuzzy logic, multivalued logics, fuzzy propositions, quantifiers, linguistic hedges and approximate reasoning. Several basic and advanced applications for fuzzy set theory are presented as well. Any non-technical reader interested in fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic. Also ideal for introductory level-students, whether they are planning a technical or non-technical course of study.

This is truly an interdisciplinary book for knowledge workers in business, finance, management and socio-economic sciences based on fuzzy logic. It serves as a guide to and techniques for forecasting, decision making and evaluations in an environment involving uncertainty, vagueness, impression and subjectivity. Traditional modeling techniques, contrary to fuzzy logic, do not capture the nature of complex systems especially when humans are involved. Fuzzy logic uses human experience and judgement to facilitate plausible reasoning in order to reach a conclusion. Emphasis is on applications presented in the 27 case studies including Time Forecasting for Project Management, New Product Pricing, and Control of a Parasit-Pest System.

For over twenty years Charles C. Ragin has been at the forefront of the development of innovative methods for social scientists. In "Redesigning Social Inquiry", he continues his campaign to revitalize the field, challenging major aspects of the conventional template for social science research while offering a clear alternative."Redesigning Social Inquiry" provides a substantive critique of the standard approach to social research - namely, assessing the relative importance of causal variables drawn from competing theories. Instead, Ragin proposes the use of set-theoretic methods to find a middle path between quantitative and qualitative research. Through a series of contrasts between fuzzy-set analysis and conventional quantitative research, Ragin demonstrates the capacity for set-theoretic methods to strengthen connections between qualitative researchers' deep knowledge of their cases and quantitative researchers' elaboration of cross-case patterns. Packed with useful examples, "Redesigning Social Inquiry" will be indispensable to experienced professionals and to budding scholars about to embark on their first project.

基于布尔代数的比较法导论，ISBN：9787543221659，作者：（瑞士）丹尼尔·卡拉曼尼（Daniele Caramani） 著 蒋勤 译 吴晓刚 编

This volume represents a first. Never before has a book focused completely on the implications of necessary conditions for social science research, logic, methodology, research design, and theory. Rarely is the contrast so wide between the prevalence of a concept in scholarship and its absence in methodology texts. Necessary Conditions presents literally hundreds of necessary condition hypotheses from all areas of political science and other social science methodologies, and is authored by many of the most influential social scientists of the last fifty years. Thus, this volume brings together essential work that deals not only with the analysis of common methodological, logical, and research design errors, but also the proper means-qualitative and quantitative-to analyze the many ramifications of necessary condition hypotheses and theories.

Fuzzy set theory deals with sets or categories whose boundaries are blurry or, in other words, 'fuzzy.' This book presents an accessible introduction to fuzzy set theory, focusing on its applicability to the social sciences. Unlike most books on this topic, "Fuzzy Set Theory" provides a systematic, yet practical guide for researchers wishing to combine fuzzy set theory with standard statistical techniques and model-testing.

The modern origin of fuzzy sets, fuzzy algebra, fuzzy decision making, and “computing with words” is conventionally traced to Lotfi Zadeh’s publication in 1965 of his path-breaking refutation of binary set theory. In a sixteen-page article, modestly titled “Fuzzy Sets” and published in the journal Information and Control, Zadeh launched a multi-disciplinary revolution. The start was relatively slow, but momentum gathered quickly. From 1970 to 1979 there were about 500 journal publications with the word fuzzy in the title; from 2000 to 2009 there were more than 35,000. At present, citations to Zadeh’s publications are running at a rate of about 1,500-2,000 per year, and this rate continues to rise. Almost all applications of Zadeh’s ideas have been in highly technical scientific fields, not in the social sciences. Zadeh was surprised by this development. In a personal note he states: “When I wrote my l965 paper, I expected that fuzzy set theory would be applied primarily in the realm of human sciences. Contrary to my expectation, fuzzy set theory and fuzzy logic are applied in the main in physical and engineering sciences.” In fact, the first comprehensive examination of fuzzy sets by a social scientist did not appear until 1987, a full twenty-two years after the publication of Zadeh’s seminal article, when Michael Smithson, an Australian psychologist, published Fuzzy Set Analysis for Behavioral and Social Sciences.

"Constructing Social Research, Second Edition" is a concise, innovative text designed for undergraduate Research Methods courses in the Social Sciences. This "Sociology for a New Century Series" text effectively highlights the unity and diversity of methods across disciplines and cultures using comparative and historical examples. Ragin and Amoroso clearly demonstrate the similarities among three major traditions: qualitative research on commonalities, comparative research on diversity, and quantitative research on relationships among variables. Together, these three compelling research strategies provide a solid foundation for studying all social phenomena, from examining the complexities of everyday life to investigating the power of transnational processes. This edition includes a new Chapter 4 'The Ethics of Social Research' to provide more in-depth information on this vital topic. Ragin and Amoroso offer a new succinct overview of the scientific method, illuminating the contrast between this method and the alternative presented in the text. To illustrate the various types of data collection associated with qualitative, comparative, and quantitative research, each chapter within the 'Strategies of Social Research' section includes new, detailed examples.

In this innovative approach to the practice of social science, Charles Ragin explores the use of fuzzy sets to bridge the divide between quantitative and qualitative methods. Paradoxically, the fuzzy set is a powerful tool because it replaces an unwieldy, "fuzzy" instrument (the variable, which establishes only the positions of cases relative to each other) with a precise one (degree of membership in a well-defined set). Ragin argues that fuzzy sets allow a far richer dialogue between ideas and evidence in social research than previously possible. They let quantitative researchers abandon "homogenizing assumptions" about cases and causes, they extend diversity-oriented research strategies, and they provide a powerful connection between theory and data analysis. Most important, fuzzy sets can be carefully tailored to fit evolving theoretical concepts, sharpening quantitative tools with in-depth knowledge gained through qualitative, case-oriented inquiry. This book should revolutionize research methods not only in sociology, political science and anthropology but in any field of inquiry dealing with complex patterns of causation.

Some 20 years after the emergence of configurational theory as a key perspective in organization studies in the 1990s, this approach has yet to deliver on its promise. While we know that configurations - the relative arrangement of parts and elements - matter, empirical research on configurations is just beginning to deliver on its promise. The starting point of the edited volume is the revival and evolution of a configurational perspective on organizations, both in terms of the use of configurational set-theoretic methods such as Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) and in terms of configurational theorizing that has emerged from the use of such methods. The volume brings together a variety of scholars working with set theoretic configurational methods to apply these methods to a range of prominent fields in organization studies, ranging from organizational design, international business, and human resource practices to networks and the management of information systems. Each author or group of authors pays specific attention to assessing the potential of set-theoretical configurational methods for organization studies. Two extensive introductory chapters discuss the state of the art with regard to different set-theoretic (fuzzy set and crisp set) methods. In three response pieces leading scholars offer a reflection on the potential of set-theoretic methods for organizational analysis. The volume aims to provide both inspiration and practical advice on how to conduct configurational analysis. The chapters illustrate the breadth of organizational fields and the growing range of topics for which the configurational perspective can provides insights. This volume vividly illustrates that the configurational approach is maturing. It aims to inspire organizational scholars to develop theories and methods that truly consider organizations as clusters of interconnected structures and practices that have to be studied as configurations.
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With recent significant advances having been made in computer-aided methods to support qualitative data analysis, a whole new range of methodological questions arises: Will the software employed 'take over' the analysis? Can computers be used to improve reliability and validity? Can computers make the research process more transparent and ensure a more systematic analysis? This book examines the central methodological and theoretical issues involved in using computers in qualitative research. International experts in the field discuss various strategies for computer-assisted qualitative analysis, outlining strategies for building theories by employing networks of categories and means of evaluating hypotheses generated from qualitative data. New ways of integrating qualitative and quantitative analysis techniques are also described.