SCIE 211 – What you think is a causal relationship

SCIE 211 – What you think is a causal relationship

Subject: General Questions    / General General Questions
Question

Find an example of what you think is a causal relationship.

Post description of the relationship.

Use the three criteria from the key points to support causation in the example you found.

1) There exists a strong and consistent correlation, correspondence, or association. (So that when the alleged cause A is present, the alleged effect B tends to be present as well and vice versa.) There is a plausible explanatory model that is consistent with the dataand fits with other scientific understandingso we can explain the correlation.

2) There is precedence so that the alleged cause A must come before the alleged effect B(with some exceptions: Battersby, p. 121). That is to say, we can understand the underlying causal mechanism for what causes what and in what direction.

3) We can predict, in advance, that A will cause B, since the alleged cause A is plausible and likely to produce the alleged effect B (because confounding factors, third variables, or alternative explanations, have been eliminated or controlled). So, that larger values of the explanatory variable (i.e., the dose of, or exposure to, the cause) are associated with stronger responses (i.e., the effect).