An extended version of Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) allows more specific conclusions: an example involving well-being and resilience.

BACKGROUND

After conducting necessary condition analysis (NCA), researchers have concluded that a certain, not too low, level of well-being is necessary but not sufficient for a high level of resilience. However, as acknowledged by the developers of the test, NCA only evaluates if the association between two variables is characterized by some unspecified type of non-randomness and not conditions of necessity.

METHOD: Earlier reported data on the association between well-being and resilience among Filipino adults (N = 533) in COVID-19 quarantine were re-analyzed with an extended version of NCA.

RESULTS

Analyses indicated a significant necessity effect of resilience on overall well-being, which is not logically compatible with well-being being necessary but not sufficient for resilience. Analyses with an extended version of NCA suggested that the association between overall well-being and resilience was characterized by equal degrees of necessity and sufficiency.

CONCLUSIONS

The original version of NCA is only capable of evaluating if the association between two variables is characterized by some unspecified type of non-randomness. The extended version of NCA allows researchers to draw more specific conclusions.