Treatment of logical remainders and low-frequency configurations in QCA (R package)

[Kalihputro Fachriansyah]

Dear all,

I would like to clarify how the QCA R package treats configurations with little empirical evidence, and whether my understanding and process diagram correctly reflect what the software does.

In my analysis, I have 8 conditions (256 possible configurations) and 280 cases, and I apply a frequency threshold (n.cut).

I would be very grateful for clarification on the following questions:

1. Are configurations with cases below the frequency threshold (n < n.cut, but not zero) treated as logical remainders, coded as “?”, and included in minimisation for intermediate and parsimonious solutions?

2. Or, are only configurations with no empirical cases (n = 0) treated as logical remainders, while low-frequency configurations (n < n.cut) are treated differently?

3. If low-frequency configurations are treated differently, are they coded as outcome “0” rather than “?” and therefore not used as counterfactuals in minimisation?

4. Based on this, does my process diagram correctly represent how QCA in R handles:

   • configurations above the frequency threshold,
   • configurations below the threshold,
   • and configurations with no empirical cases, particularly in the derivation of conservative, intermediate, and parsimonious solutions?

My aim is to ensure that both my interpretation and diagram accurately reflect the actual implementation in the QCA package.

Many thanks for your help.

Best regards,
Kalihputro 

[Adrian Dușa]

Dear Kalihputro,

This one is actually documented in the help file for the command truth table, where at the n.cut argument it specifies:

"The minimum number of cases under which a truth table row is declared as a remainder."

And further down in the Details section, you can find:

"The argument n.cut specifies the frequency threshold under which a truth table row is coded as a remainder, irrespective of its inclusion score."

I hope this helps,

Adrian

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[Kalihputro Fachriansyah]

Dear Adrian,

Thank you for the clarification. 

Best,

Kalihputro