Coding How to design and conduct a theory-building case study

in a data matrix. The simplest form is a matrix consisting of two columns, one for concept A and one for concept B, and a number of rows one row for each case. This matrix is the basis for the final analy- sis of the theory-building case study.

9.1.7 Data analysis

The aim of this analysis is to draw a conclusion about a whether there is a relationship between the concepts A and B or not and, if so, b what type of relation this is. We advise starting this process of “discovering” relations between concepts by determining whether the stronger types of causal relations deterministic ones are discernable in the data matrix and to look for weaker causal relations probabilistic ones if such stronger types are not found. The rationale of this procedure is that it is important to find strong causal relations which, say, explain 100 per cent of variance if they exist. Or, in other words, this procedure helps the researcher to avoid the error that only a probabilistic relation is dis- covered even in situations in which the data matrix contains evidence for stronger relations. The exploration of the data matrix is proposed in this order: 1. looking for a sufficient condition; 2. looking for a necessary condition; 3. looking for a deterministic relation; 4. looking for a probabilistic relation. We will discuss now how this could be done.

9.1.7.1 Sufficient condition

First, assess whether there is evidence for a sufficient condition. A suf- ficient condition exists if a specific value of concept A always results in a specific value of concept B. The existence of a sufficient condition in the selected cases can be assessed by ordering the data matrix in such a way that cases with the same value of concept A are grouped together. If the value of concept B is constant in a subgroup of cases with the same value of A, then this can be taken as evidence that this specific value of A is a sufficient condition for the value of B observed in this subgroup of cases. This procedure is very similar to the way in which a