thresholdssetter: Recode continuous variable into binary/multi-value variable
In QCA3: Yet another package for Qualitative Comparative Analysis

Description Usage Arguments Details Value Author(s) References Examples

If the conditions is continuous variable, it has to be recoded into binary variable in order to conduct csQCA, or multi-value variable in order to conduct mvQCA. thresholdsster helps to recode the variable using cluster analysis (the default method is 'average linkage').

1 2	thresholdssetter(x, nthreshold = 1,method ="average",dismethod="euclidean", thresholds=NULL, plot=TRUE)

`x`	A continouse variable.
`nthreshold`	The number of thresholds.

`method`	method of cluster analysis. See `hclust` for more details.
`dismethod`	method argument for `dist`.
`thresholds`	numeric vector of the threshold values. If it is not NULL, then recode the variable according to thresholds rather than cluster analysis. The threshold values are included in the smaller group.
`plot`	logical. If TRUE, a bar plot is produced to aid the examination of distribution of the recoded variable.

In order to dichotomize the data, 1 threshold is needed; to trichotomize the data, 2 thresholds are needed; and so on. Yet, it should not be a large number, otherwise, limited diversity is a problem. It is suggested to be 1 to 3.

Whenever possible, use theoretically meaningful thresholds. Use statistical means only when necessary. The thresholds should make theoretical sense, thus you should examine the threshold values before going on. Good thresholod values should NOT create very differently sized subgroups. Mean and median should be avoided as well.

A numeric sequence from 0 to (nthreshold+1), with the attribute of thresholds.

Ronggui HUANG

Cronqvist, Lasse and Berg-Schlosser, Dirk. 2009. Multi-Value QCA (mvQCA). In Configuraional comparative Methods: qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) and related techniques. ed by Benoit RiHoux and Charles Ragin. Sage.

Cronqvist, L. 2007. Tosmana user manual. http://www.tosmana.net/tosmana_manual1_3beta.pdf