[H-GG03] Dialogues on natural resources and environment between earth and social sciences

[HGG03-P04] Causal complexity in Tanzanian smallholder decision-making: Cases in Human Geography

*Gen Ueda¹, Zakia Iddi Ibrahim² (1.Graduate School of Social Sciences, Hitotsubashi University, 2.University of Dar es Salaam)

Keywords:Qualitative Comparative Analysis, Decision-making, Smallholders, Tanzania

In social sciences, a set-theoretic approach called Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) has been employed to illuminate “causal complexity” defined in terms of conjunctural causation, equifinality, and causal asymmetry (Rihoux and Ragin 2009: 8; Schneider and Wagemann 2012: 8): “cases are seen as configurations that entail various combinations of conditions (conjunctural causation)”, “outcomes can be reached through multiple, different pathways (equifinality)”, and “outcome and nonoutcome may require different explanations (causal asymmetry)” (Mello 2021: xv, 1-2). QCA can analyse both qualitative and quantitative data: for the latter, it calibrates them into fuzzy set membership scores. QCA prompts us to shift attention from a single understanding of social reality towards potential plural paths of causality: it is therefore different from multiple regression analysis, or more generally, Generalized Linear Models (GLM) and Structural Equation Models (SEM). An example shown in this presentation is the case of smallholders’ trial of improved wheat cultivation in Makete District, Njombe Region, Tanzania, as one of the alternative livelihood elements for tree-growing farmers in changing circumstances after the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russo-Ukrainian War. The study hopefully encourages mutual understanding between Earth and Social Sciences on the issue of causality and its explanation.


References

Mello, Patrick A. 2021. Qualitative Comparative Analysis: An Introduction to Research Design and Application. Georgetown University Press.

Rihoux B. and Charles C. Ragin (ed). 2009. Configurational Comparative Methods: Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) and Related Techniques. SAGE publication.

Schneider, Carsten Q. and Wagemann, Claudius. 2007. Set-Theoretic Methods for the Social Sciences: A Guide to Qualitative Comparative Analysis. Cambridge University Press.