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Causal asymmetry is a situation where the causal factors under study are more suitable for explaining the outcome than its absence (or vice versa); they do not explain both equally well. In such a situation, presence of a cause leads to presence of the effect, but absence of the cause may not lead to absence of the effect. A conceptual discussion is followed by the empirical example of gaining a degree (or not), comparing the methods logistic regression and Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). While logistic regression, being based on correlational analysis and thus assuming symmetric relationships between variables, does not lend itself automatically to detecting causal asymmetry, it can be used to bring out asymmetry nevertheless. QCA, on the other hand, uncovers asymmetry, if present, by default. The closing recommendation is for researchers to be more aware of the possibility of asymmetry existing, regardless of the particular method employed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces a test for literary text comprehension in university students of English as a second language. Poetry is especially suited for our purpose since it frequently shows features that offer challenges to comprehension in a limited space. An example is Shakespeare's Sonnet 43, on which our test is based: it is suited for assessing not only if a text has been understood but also the ability of respondents to reflect on their own comprehension skills. We show that the test's psychometric properties are satisfactory, and we demonstrate its validity by analysing relevant external indicators. Thus, we can show a direct link between general reading experience and text comprehension as tested: the more students read, the better do they perform. The collaboration of literary studies with psychometrics moreover allows for a statistically valid identification of specific challenges to comprehension and thus advance our knowledge of what readers find difficult. This will be of interest not only in a hermeneutic and linguistic perspective but also with a view to addressing those difficulties in an educational context. For example, asking someone whether they have understood an utterance (in this case: a line of poetry) does not elicit reliable answers. Being able to say how one has established the meaning of a line seems to be a more reliable indicator of actually having understood it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the issue of conceptual asymmetry and associated analytical challenges, with the concept of educational poverty serving as an empirical example. The notion of educational poverty has been introduced by Allmendinger to describe, analogously to material poverty, a severe shortage or complete lack of educational qualifications. Poverty may be considered to be the opposite of wealth, but absence of poverty is not so obviously the same thing as wealth – in fact, it almost certainly is not. Neither is absence of wealth the same thing as poverty. However, both poverty and wealth are measured using the same raw measure, monetary resources in the case of material poverty or wealth and educational certificates in the case of educational poverty or wealth. This asymmetry and related issues lead to interesting conceptual and methodological challenges in analysing factors contributing to the twin outcomes of educational poverty and wealth, as well as the absence of each. These conceptual or methodological challenges are the focus of this article. Given that both poverty and wealth are experienced by only a minority of individuals, the article also addresses the question of whether explaining relatively rare events requires a different approach than explaining more commonly occurring events or outcomes. The analysis of asymmetry requires the use of a method which is able to distinguish between the presence of an outcome and its absence. This capability is one of the features of Qualitative Comparative Analysis, making it an eminently suitable method for this issue. The empirical example draws on the German National Educational Panel Study. The analyses focus on the four outcomes of educational poverty and its absence and educational wealth and its absence, demonstrating that different pathways are associated with each. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the issue of conceptual asymmetry and associated analytical challenges, with the concept of educational poverty serving as an empirical example. The notion of educational poverty has been introduced by Allmendinger to describe, analogously to material poverty, a severe shortage or complete lack of educational qualifications. Poverty may be considered to be the opposite of wealth, but absence of poverty is not so obviously the same thing as wealth – in fact, it almost certainly is not. Neither is absence of wealth the same thing as poverty. However, both poverty and wealth are measured using the same raw measure, monetary resources in the case of material poverty or wealth and educational certificates in the case of educational poverty or wealth. This asymmetry and related issues lead to interesting conceptual and methodological challenges in analysing factors contributing to the twin outcomes of educational poverty and wealth, as well as the absence of each. These conceptual or methodological challenges are the focus of this article. Given that both poverty and wealth are experienced by only a minority of individuals, the article also addresses the question of whether explaining relatively rare events requires a different approach than explaining more commonly occurring events or outcomes. The analysis of asymmetry requires the use of a method which is able to distinguish between the presence of an outcome and its absence. This capability is one of the features of Qualitative Comparative Analysis, making it an eminently suitable method for this issue. The empirical example draws on the German National Educational Panel Study. The analyses focus on the four outcomes of educational poverty and its absence and educational wealth and its absence, demonstrating that different pathways are associated with each. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper first provides a brief overview of the history and current usage of the concept of competence in academic research, and then undertakes a critical discussion of how the term is currently used in educational policy. The running example used throughout the paper is competence in foreign language learning. The PISA study is discussed to demonstrate how the concept of competence has come to prominence in the international discourse on education in recent years. Following this, particular attention is given to the situation in Germany where there has been a shift towards competence as an aim of teaching in recent years, coupled with an increased focus on standards and accountability. The relationship between competence and standards is examined critically, since some authors appear to use the two interchangeably whether or not this is justified. Finally, the Common European Framework for Languages (CEFR) and a German curriculum document are examined critically with regard to their use of the concept of competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss a recent development in the set theoretic analysis of data sets characterized by limited diversity. Ragin, in developing his Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), developed a standard analysis that produces parsimonious, intermediate, and complex Boolean solutions of truth tables. Schneider and Wagemann argue this standard analysis procedure is problematic and develop an enhanced standard analysis (ESA). We show, by developing Schneider and Wagemann’s discussion of Stokke’s work on fisheries conservation and by discussing a second illustrative truth table, that ESA has problematic features. We consider how scholars might proceed in the face of these problems, considering the relations between limited diversity and the different methods of reducing truth tables instantiated in Ragin’s QCA and Baumgartner’s Coincidence Analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ragin’s Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) is often used with small to medium samples where the researcher has good case knowledge. Employing it to analyse large survey datasets, without in-depth case knowledge, raises new challenges. We present ways of addressing these challenges. We first report a single QCA result from a configurational analysis of the British National Child Development Study dataset (highest educational qualification as a set theoretic function of social class, sex and ability). We then address the robustness of our analysis by employing Duşa and Thiem’s R QCA package to explore the consequences of (i) changing fuzzy set theoretic calibrations of ability, (ii) simulating errors in measuring ability and (iii) changing thresholds for assessing the quasi-sufficiency of causal configurations for educational achievement. We also consider how the analysis behaves under simulated re-sampling, using bootstrapping. The paper offers suggested methods to others wishing to use QCA with large n data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of Charles Ragin’s Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) is increasing in the social sciences. However, some of its characteristics, especially those of its fuzzy set variant, are still not well understood by users. QCA, a set theoretic method, aims to describe, in a Boolean form, the configurations of conditions that are necessary and/or sufficient for some outcome. The calibration of set memberships is a central feature. We discuss how two alternative calibrations of a condition affect the assessment of consistency with sufficiency. Using first an abstract example and then an empirical one from the sociology of education, we explain why “stricter” calibration of conditions results in higher consistency with sufficiency. We demonstrate that conventional truth table analysis is not an ideal way to compare the analytic consequences of alternative calibrations and therefore employ an alternative which allows a more direct comparison of consistency indices while keeping comparative configurational contexts intact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both Rational Action Theory (RAT) and Bourdieu’s habitus theory are employed to explain educational decision-making. RAT assumes that decision-making involves cost-benefit analysis, while habitus theory sees educational pathways as shaped by dispositions reflecting familial class of origin. These theories are often seen as conflicting, but we argue that they can fruitfully be used together.Proponents of these theories often employ different methods. RAT advocates usually employ survey data, while those favouring habitus theory often use case studies. If cost-benefit reasoning does partly explain educational decision-making, then we should expect to find evidence of it at the micro-level. Drawing on interviews conducted in Germany and England, we show that young people do indeed talk about their educational choices in ways which fit RAT accounts. Their class-based habitus often, however, provides upper and lower boundaries for their aspirations, thus conditioning the nature of the cost-benefit analysis entering into decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the relations between gender, parental education, ability, and educational achievement in Britain, focusing on the way in which gender and parental education interact with ability to contribute to a pupil’s obtaining secondary school qualifications. This allows us to provide evidence relevant to claims concerning the effects of differences in the way in which working- and middle-class familial cultures interact with gender-specific behaviour in school. Given the configurational nature of the processes likely to be involved, we employ Ragin’s Qualitative Comparative Analysis as our method. We find that, in both academically selective and non-selective schools, high ability is a quasi-sufficient condition for obtaining certain levels of qualification, but that at lower levels of ability, either being female or having highly educated parents (or both) have to be present, too. Boys without highly educated parents perform less well than girls from a similar background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selective and comprehensive school systems vary in both the degree and timing of selection. To study the consequences of such variation, cross-national comparisons are usually undertaken. Given that cultural differences between countries affect pathways and outcomes, apportioning causal influence in such studies can be difficult. In 1970s Britain, selective and comprehensive systems coexisted. This enables us to compare the influences of organisational arrangements without the complication of national cultural differences. We analyse, for children of various abilities, while taking account of gender and class, the effect on achievement of experiencing comprehensive or selective schooling. Assuming that contextual and individual factors work conjuncturally in producing outcomes, we employ Ragin’s configurational Qualitative Comparative Analysis. By treating cases in the National Child Development Study as configurations of factors, we are able to analyse the sufficient and necessary conditions for achievement. We find that system differences affect only some high-ability children’s educational outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper undertakes a comparison of Ragin's fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis with cluster analysis. After describing key features of both methods, it uses a simple invented example to illustrate an important algorithmic difference in the way in which these methods classify cases. It then examines the consequences of this difference via analyses of data previously calibrated as fuzzy sets. The data, taken from the National Child Development Study, concern educational achievement, social class, ability and gender. The classifications produced by fsQCA and fuzzy cluster analysis (FCA) are compared and the reasons for the observed differences between them are discussed. The predictive power of both methods is also compared, employing both correlational and set theoretic comparisons, using highest qualification achieved as the outcome. In the main, using the real data, the two methods are found to produce similar results. A final discussion considers the generalisability or otherwise of this finding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both substantive (i.e. factual knowledge, concepts, laws and theories) and procedural knowledge (understanding and applying concepts such as reliability and validity, measurement and calibration, data collection, measurement error, the ability to interpret evidence and the like) are involved in carrying out an open-ended science investigation. There is some debate as to whether procedural understanding is of little importance compared to substantive understanding or whether - and this is the view we take - procedural ideas can and should be taught explicitly. We present here findings from a study of undergraduate students who took a module which specifically taught procedural ideas. We employ an innovative method, Charles Ragin's Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), which involves the analysis of necessary and sufficient conditions and conjunctions of causes. Findings from a comparison of the students' performance before and after the teaching and from QCA imply that procedural understanding was indeed a necessary condition for carrying out an open-ended investigation. It was also sufficient when combined with either substantive understanding, prior attainment or both. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School systems may be usefully characterized according to Turner's proposed ideal types of sponsored and contest mobility. Germany is a critical case with respect to this typology because its secondary school system is stratified and selective, and yet it offers the opportunity for upward and downward mobility. Drawing on an analysis of a German longitudinal dataset, this paper addresses the question of flexibility or rigidity of the school system, exploring the ways in which factors other than pupils' ability influence selection processes within that system. Both academic ability and ascriptive factors act together to facilitate or hinder changes of academic routes within the school system. The methodological focus of the paper is on the introduction to an innovative method, Charles Ragin's Qualitative Comparative Analysis, a method based on set theory. It involves the identification of necessary and sufficient conditions for a given outcome, taking conjunctions of causal conditions into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the labour market, formal qualifications—both school and vocational or university degrees—are of increasing importance. This may be especially true in Germany, where formal qualifications are highly valued. Dropping out of vocational or university training is therefore regarded as a risk for young people in the process of entering the labour market. In the present paper, two questions are being addressed: (1) Who are the young adults who are at risk of dropping out? (2) What happens to them, i.e. do they get a chance to resume their education and if so, who is more likely to do so? Using a longitudinal perspective, both individual factors such as scholastic achievement, intelligence or motivation and structural factors pertaining to the education system are taken into account. Both kinds of influencing factors are shown to contribute to the likelihood of dropping out and starting again. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Severe traumatic stressors such as war, rape, or life-threatening accidents can result in a debilitating psychopathological development conceptualised as Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Pathological memory formation during an alarm response may set the precondition for PTSD to occur. If true, a lack of memory formation by extended unconsciousness in the course of the traumatic experience should preclude PTSD. Methods: 46 patients from a neurological rehabilitation clinic were examined by means of questionnaires and structured clinical interviews. All patients had suffered a TBI due to an accident, but varied with respect to falling unconscious during the traumatic event. Results: 27% of the sub-sample who were not unconscious for an extended period but only 3% (1 of 31 patients) who were unconscious for more than 12 hours as a result of the accident were diagnosed as having current PTSD (P < .02). Furthermore, intrusive memories proved to be far more frequent in patients who had not been unconscious. This was also the case for other re-experiencing symptoms and for psychological distress and physiological reactivity to reminders of the traumatic event. Conclusion: TBI and PTSD are not mutually exclusive. However, victims of accidents are unlikely to develop a PTSD if the impact to the head had resulted in an extended period of unconsciousness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the respective roles of substantive and procedural understanding with regard to students' ability to carry out an open-ended science investigation. The research is a case study centred on an intervention in which undergraduate initial teacher training students are taught the basic building blocks of procedural understanding. They are then put in the position of solving a practical open-ended investigation. We report on the detail of their approaches and draw on recent papers in which the data are subjected to analysis using Qualitative Comparative Analysis techniques. We conclude that having been taught about evidence has contributed to the successful performance of the investigation; that students' greatest improvement was in their understanding of ideas associated with datasets; and that students were able to apply the ideas to work more iteratively in response to data in the investigation. We consider the possible curriculum implications of this exploratory work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]