This document discusses the role of time in qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). It makes three key points: 1) Including temporal information can help establish causal ordering and distinguish causal roles by breaking the symmetry of correlation in a longitudinal perspective. 2) When including time in QCA, it needs to be determined whether the configuration is static or dynamic, and if dynamic, whether it has evolved over time or is a new configuration to compare to previous ones. 3) While causal relations necessarily occur over time, with causes preceding effects, the temporal ordering of data used in QCA may not provide direct epistemic access and could be impacted by issues like data collection methods and latency.

1. Time in QCA
A philosopher’s point of view
Federica Russo

2. A disclaimer
• Methodologically, I see things from a causalist perspective
• Not that we always have to find out causes or that all methods are good at
finding causes
• But I take it that the ultimate goal is to say something about what causes
what
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3. Time in modelling
• Temporal information helps
• ‘Break’ the symmetry of correlation and establish causal ordering
• Establish causal roles in a longitudinal perspective
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4. Why would you need to include time in QCA?
• Answer a question with a new set of questions!
• Is a QCA configuration static of dynamic?
• If you include time, does it mean that the same configuration has
evolved from t > t1 or that it is a new configuration to be compared
with the previous one?
• And related to all this: where does time come in?
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5. Philosopher’s hat on again
• We’d all agree that
• Causal relations happen in time
• Causes preceed effects (at most they are nearly simultaneous)
• [I know only crazy analytic philosophers and Steven Spielberg to
believe in backwards causation!]
• In philosophy of time / physics:
• Infer causal ordering from time ordering
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6. Why this inference is not so obvious
• Epistemic access to temporal ordering may not be direct
• Data collection
• Latency
• …
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7. What is the role of time, exactly?
• Part of the background, shaping up the rest of data collection,
modelling, interpretation
AND / OR
• Part of the modelling itself, considering variables in time
• And any virtuous cycle from one to the other
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8. To sum up and conclude
• We can of course delve deep into metaphysical discussions on the
nature of time etc
• From a more pragmatic, methodologic-oriented perspective
• Q1: what do we need time for?
• Q2: where to put time in the modelling process?
• Q3: what if we’d really need time info but we can’t get it?
• Guess all these points are not QCA-specific but rather general (yet
useful for the discussion)
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