방법 비교

	Qualitative Comparative Analysis	Most Different Systems Design
분야	Political Science	Political Science
계열	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
기원 연도	1987	1970
창시자	Charles C. Ragin	John Stuart Mill (method of agreement); Przeworski & Teune (systems framing)
유형	Set-theoretic, configurational comparative method	Small-N comparative case-selection design
원전	Ragin, C. C. (1987). The Comparative Method: Moving Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN: 9780520058347	Przeworski, A., & Teune, H. (1970). The Logic of Comparative Social Inquiry. New York: Wiley-Interscience. ISBN: 9780471701422
별칭	QCA, csQCA, fsQCA, Configurational comparative method	MDSD, Most different cases design, Mill's method of agreement, Diverse systems design
관련	3	3
요약	Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) is a set-theoretic, configurational method that identifies which combinations of conditions are necessary or sufficient for an outcome across a set of cases. Developed by Charles Ragin, it treats each case as a configuration of set memberships, builds a truth table of all logically possible combinations, and uses Boolean algebra to minimize them into the simplest expressions that account for the outcome. It bridges qualitative case knowledge and cross-case generalization, embracing causal complexity through conjunctural causation, equifinality, and asymmetry.	The most different systems design (MDSD) is a small-N comparative strategy that selects cases that differ on as many background characteristics as possible yet share the same outcome. If wildly dissimilar cases nonetheless converge on the same result, the explanation cannot lie in the many features on which they differ — it must lie in whatever they have in common. Grounded in John Stuart Mill's method of agreement and named by Przeworski and Teune, it is the mirror image of the most similar systems design and a staple of comparative politics.