“Spotlight on...” Cornelius Haritz on Winter School

Which Winter School did you participate in? And what courses did you take?

I took part in the one-week course “Introduction to Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA)” by the Komex Methods Network at the University of Konstanz. The course consisted of preparatory readings and video recordings that we had to work through before the start of the course and each morning of the week. In the afternoon we had zoom-sessions to clarify questions and be guided through an r-script. Before the next days’ session we were asked to finish an according r-exercise ourselves.

What did and didn’t you like about the Winter School?

The course was well structured, and it started from the very principles, so if following properly one could really understand the logic of the method. I also liked the application in r straight away, and that we could download all the scripts which will greatly help when applying for my own project. I did not like however, that we did not get to download the readings for the price of 390€.

What did you take away? Any particular lessons learned for the next steps of your research project?

In the final exercise we replicated a published paper, so I am confident to apply the method myself. I also understood better what QCA is equipped to do and what not, and I think it is strongest when connected to other methods which I plan to do therefore in my further projects.