Logic of Causal Order (Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences)

James A Davis

ISBN 10: 0803925530 / ISBN 13: 9780803925533

Published by SAGE Publications, Inc 1985-11-01, 1985

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 6666-IUK-9780803925533

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Logic of Causal Order (Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences)
• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc 1985-11-01
• Publication Date: 1985
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0803925530
• ISBN 13: 9780803925533
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Social scientists routinely draw conclusions about cause and effect from their data. This book spells out the pre-statistical assumptions of multivariate research and explains in nonmathematical terms: the concepts of causal direction and system order; direct, indirect, and spurious statistical effects; signs and the sign rule; rules for introducing control variables, elaboration and explanation, "effects analysis," and path analysis. The book is not statistical in the sense of developing specific statistical tools. Rather, it explains the prestatistical assumptions required, whatever the technique. The importance of substantive knowledge about the "real world" is stressed, and the myth that causal problems can be solved by statistical calculations alone is repeatedly challenged.

About the Author

Professor of mathematics