Guidance on fsQCA as a methodological choice for PhD

[Priyanka Raghav]

Respected Prof. Kaushik and other group members,

I am a PhD research scholar at PEC Chandigarh.

My research examines how multiple entrepreneurial-ecosystem conditions
combine to produce state-level sustainability-oriented startup
activity across 36 Indian states and Union Territories, using
cumulative data for the period 2016–2024. I plan to use fuzzy-set
qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) with five antecedent
conditions drawn from established entrepreneurial-ecosystem
frameworks. My outcome is the density of sustainability startups in a
state/UT.

My concern is methodological fit. With N = 36 and five conditions, the
truth table has 32 possible configurations. Many rows are likely to
have zero or one case. One alternative is to reduce to four
conditions, but it drops an ecosystem pillar I consider theoretically
central.

I would be grateful for your view on two questions: whether fsQCA is a
defensible choice for cross-sectional emerging-economy research at N =
36 with five conditions, and whether the limited-diversity problem can
be adequately handled through robustness checks and sensitivity
analysis.

Thank you very much for your time and support. I look forward to your guidance.

Thanks and Regards,
Priyanka Raghav
PhD Research Scholar
Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh
8699008456