This Page was adapted from the Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper guide done by Dr. Robert V. Labaree from the Von KleinSmid Center Library for International and Public Affairs at USC.
Definition and Purpose
Causality studies may be thought of as understanding a phenomenon in terms of conditional statements in the form, “If X, then Y.” This type of research is used to measure what impact a specific change will have on existing norms and assumptions. Most social scientists seek causal explanations that reflect tests of hypotheses. Causal effect (nomothetic perspective) occurs when variation in one phenomenon, an independent variable, leads to or results, on average, in variation in another phenomenon, the dependent variable.
Conditions necessary for determining causality:
What do these studies tell you?
What these studies don't tell you?