1997 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

Qualitative Comparison by Boolean Approach

Research Project

Project/Area Number	08301011
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	社会学(含社会福祉関係)
Research Institution	HOKKAIDO UNIVERSITY
Principal Investigator	KANOMATA Nobuo Hokkaido Univ., Fac.of Letters, Assistant Pro., 文学部, 助教授 (30204598)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	YOSANO Arinori Nara Univ., Fac.of Sociology, Assistant Pro., 社会学部, 助教授 (00230673) HIRATA Tohru Fukuoka Univ., Fac.of Humanities, Assistant Pro., 人文学部, 助教授 (10238363) NOMIYA Daishiro Hokkaido Univ., Fac.of Letters, Assistant Pro., 文学部, 助教授 (20256085) ODA Teruya Keio Univ., Fac.of Letters, Assistant Pro., 文学部, 助教授 (20276421) INABA Akihide Tokyo Metropolitan Univ., Fac.of Humanities, Lecturer, 人文学部, 専任講師 (30213119)
Project Period (FY)	1996 – 1997
Keywords	Boolean Algebra / Qualitative Comparison / Case Method / Qualitative Method / Deductive Method / Truth Table Data
Research Abstract	1.Boolean approach was applied to various themes concerning popular protest, volunteer group, social consciousness, intention on birth and others in the areas of historical sociology, social movement, organization, social psychology, and social behavior. These results showed that Boolean approach was applicable to various areas and themes. 2.Boolean approach was applied to various type of research data which include historical data, existing data for meta-analysis, cross-tabulation data, vignette data, and letter data. These results showed that Boolean approach was applicable to various research data. 3.Boolean approach was applied to formalize theories and compare theories. An new method was proposed by one of the investigators, which analyze role structure by modelling hierarchy and visibility of roles deductively. 4.To expand Boolesn approach as mathematical model, we tried methodological examination on the specification on minimization algorithm, the comparison with Logit model, and the criterion of dichotomous value. There, we proposed some countermeasures to limited diversity and contradictory rows which restrict Boolean approach seriously. As stated above, in this research project, we examined methodologically (no.4), developed new methods to apply to various research data (no.2 and no.3), and conducted actual application to substantive themes (no.1). Especially, in researches on substantive themes, the method which apply Boolean approach to subjective logic and subjective definition to situation was effective.