IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/somere/v33y2005i4p462-496.html

Assigning Membership in a Fuzzy Set Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Jay Verkuilen

    (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)

Abstract

This article provides a largely nontechnical discussion of the acquisition of membership values in fuzzy set analyses. First the basic properties of a membership are discussed. Then the three common strategies of membership assignment—direct subjective assignment, indirect subjective assignment, and transformation—are critically examined in turn. Examples are used to illustrate the techniques. The connection with existing psychometric and statistical methods is particularly emphasized, focusing on the notion of a membership value as a random variable as a means to assess uncertainty in assignment.

Suggested Citation

  • Jay Verkuilen, 2005. "Assigning Membership in a Fuzzy Set Analysis," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 33(4), pages 462-496, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:somere:v:33:y:2005:i:4:p:462-496
    DOI: 10.1177/0049124105274498
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0049124105274498
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0049124105274498?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Muller, Edward N., 1972. "A Test of a Partial Theory of Potential for Political Violence," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 66(3), pages 928-959, September.
    2. repec:ucp:bkecon:9780226702766 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Adcock, Robert & Collier, David, 2001. "Measurement Validity: A Shared Standard for Qualitative and Quantitative Research," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 95(3), pages 529-546, September.
    4. Nozer D. Singpurwalla & Jane M. Booker, 2004. "Membership Functions and Probability Measures of Fuzzy Sets," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 99, pages 867-877, January.
    5. Ragin, Charles C., 2000. "Fuzzy-Set Social Science," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226702773, August.
    6. Huber, Joel & Ariely, Dan & Fischer, Gregory, 2002. "Expressing Preferences in a Principal-Agent Task: A Comparison of Choice, Rating, and Matching," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 66-90, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hirschhorn, Fabio & Veeneman, Wijnand & van de Velde, Didier, 2019. "Organisation and performance of public transport: A systematic cross-case comparison of metropolitan areas in Europe, Australia, and Canada," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 419-432.
    2. Fatmi, Mahmudur Rahman & Chowdhury, Subeh & Habib, Muhammad Ahsanul, 2017. "Life history-oriented residential location choice model: A stress-based two-tier panel modeling approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 293-307.
    3. Iannacci, Federico & Cornford, Tony, 2017. "Unravelling casual and temporal influences underpinning monitoring systems success: a typological approach," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 84049, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. White, Leroy, 2018. "A Cook's tour: Towards a framework for measuring the social impact of social purpose organisations," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 268(3), pages 784-797.
    5. Qing Li, 2016. "Indirect membership function assignment based on ordinal regression," Journal of Applied Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(3), pages 441-460, March.
    6. Terry Clark & Jennifer Larson & John Mordeson & Mark Wierman, 2008. "Extension of the portfolio allocation model to surplus majority governments: a fuzzy approach," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 134(3), pages 179-199, March.
    7. Keeran Kowlaser & Helena Barnard, 2016. "Tie Breadth, Tie Strength And The Location Of Ties: The Value Of Ties Inside An Emerging Mnc To Team Innovation," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 20(01), pages 1-31, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gustav Lidén, 2013. "What about theory? The consequences on a widened perspective of social theory," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 213-225, January.
    2. Eva Thomann & Martino Maggetti, 2020. "Designing Research With Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA): Approaches, Challenges, and Tools," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 49(2), pages 356-386, May.
    3. Saka-Helmhout, Ayse & Álamos-Concha, Priscilla & López, Mabel Machado & Hagan, Julie & Murray, Gregor & Edwards, Tony & Kern, Philipp & Martin, Isabelle & Zhang, Ling Eleanor, 2024. "Stakeholder engagement strategies for impactful corporate social innovation initiatives by multinational enterprises," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(4).
    4. Kendra Koivu & Erin Damman, 2015. "Qualitative variations: the sources of divergent qualitative methodological approaches," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 49(6), pages 2617-2632, November.
    5. Romero-Castro, Noelia & Piñeiro-Chousa, Juan & Pérez-Pico, Ada, 2021. "Dealing with heterogeneity and complexity in the analysis of the willingness to invest in community renewable energy in rural areas," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    6. Kamini Gupta & Donal Crilly & Thomas Greckhamer, 2020. "Stakeholder engagement strategies, national institutions, and firm performance: A configurational perspective," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(10), pages 1869-1900, October.
    7. Cheng, Cheng-Feng & Chang, Man-Ling & Li, Chu-Shiu, 2013. "Configural paths to successful product innovation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(12), pages 2561-2573.
    8. Markus Mayer & Markus Voeth, 2022. "Improving negotiation success in B2B sales organizations: is structured negotiation management a success factor?," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 92(2), pages 163-196, February.
    9. Mina Baliamoune-Lutz, 2004. "On the Measurement of Human Well-being: Fuzzy Set Theory and Sen's Capability Approach," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2004-16, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    10. Kusa, Rafał & Suder, Marcin & Duda, Joanna, 2023. "Impact of greening on performance in the hospitality industry: Moderating effect of flexibility and inter-organizational cooperation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    11. Osakwe, Christian Nedu & Ogunmokun, Oluwatobi A. & Elgammal, Islam & Kwarteng, Michael Adu, 2025. "Individuals' attitudes and their adoption intentions of central bank digital currency: Combining theories and analytics for deeper insights," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    12. Maria do Rosario Correia & Raquel F. Ch. Meneses, 2019. "Venture Capital and the Use of Convertible Securities and Control Rights Covenants: A Fuzzy Set Approach," European Journal of Business Science and Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Faculty of Business and Economics, vol. 5(1), pages 5-20.
    13. Gary Goertz & Tony Hak & Jan Dul, 2013. "Ceilings and Floors," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 42(1), pages 3-40, February.
    14. Jinhua Xie & Gangqiao Yang & Ge Wang & Xiaojie Zhang, 2025. "Sustainable land use in central China: the effects of different livelihood capital configurations on farmers’ ecological production behaviors," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 5225-5251, February.
    15. Roberto Chierici & Barbara Del Bosco & Alice Mazzucchelli & Claudio Chiacchierini, 2021. "Enhancing Brand Awareness, Reputation and Loyalty: The Role of Social Media," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 14(1), pages 216-216, July.
    16. James Mahoney, 2012. "The Logic of Process Tracing Tests in the Social Sciences," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 41(4), pages 570-597, November.
    17. Ott, Ursula F. & Kimura, Yuko, 2016. "A set-theoretic analysis of negotiations in Japanese MNEs: Opening up the black box," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(4), pages 1294-1300.
    18. Schakel, Arjan Hille, 2009. "A Postfunctionalist Theory of Regional Government," MPRA Paper 21596, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Kyle C. Longest & Stephen Vaisey, 2008. "fuzzy: A program for performing qualitative comparative analyses (QCA) in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LLC, vol. 8(1), pages 79-104, February.
    20. Ir. Michiel Kort & Stefan Verweij & Erik-Hans Klijn, 2016. "In search for effective public-private partnerships: An assessment of the impact of organizational form and managerial strategies in urban regeneration partnerships using fsQCA," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 34(5), pages 777-794, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:somere:v:33:y:2005:i:4:p:462-496. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.