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	Congruence Analysis	Most Similar Systems Design	Qualitative Comparative Analysis
Ämnesområde	Political Science	Political Science	Political Science
Familj	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Ursprungsår	2012	1970	1987
Upphovsperson	Alexander L. George & Andrew Bennett; Joachim Blatter & Markus Haverland	John Stuart Mill (method of difference); Przeworski & Teune (systems framing)	Charles C. Ragin
Typ	Small-N, theory-centered case-study method	Small-N comparative case-selection design	Set-theoretic, configurational comparative method
Ursprungskälla	Blatter, J., & Haverland, M. (2012). Designing Case Studies: Explanatory Approaches in Small-N Research. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN: 9780230249707	Przeworski, A., & Teune, H. (1970). The Logic of Comparative Social Inquiry. New York: Wiley-Interscience. ISBN: 9780471701422	Ragin, C. C. (1987). The Comparative Method: Moving Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN: 9780520058347
Alias	Congruence method, Congruence procedure, Theory-centered case study, Predicted-observed congruence testing	MSSD, Most similar cases design, Mill's method of difference, Comparable cases strategy	QCA, csQCA, fsQCA, Configurational comparative method
Närliggande	3	3	3
Sammanfattning	Congruence analysis is a small-N, theory-centered case-study method that adjudicates between competing theories by comparing each theory's concrete predictions with the empirical observations in one or a few cases. The researcher derives specific, observable expectations from each rival theory and then assesses which theory's predictions are most congruent with what is actually observed. Described as the congruence method by George and Bennett and developed into a full explanatory approach by Blatter and Haverland, it makes theories — rather than cases or variables — the central objects of inference.	The most similar systems design (MSSD) is a small-N comparative strategy that selects cases as alike as possible on many background characteristics but differing on the outcome of interest. By matching cases so that most potential confounders are held roughly constant, the design isolates the few factors that vary alongside the outcome as the candidate causes. Rooted in John Stuart Mill's method of difference and named by Przeworski and Teune, it is a cornerstone of comparative politics for drawing causal inferences from a handful of countries or cases.	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.