Question

What are the three factors that allow us to draw conclusions about the causal relationships among events? How do experiments create these situations so that we can use them to draw conclusions about causality?

Answer 1

The three factors that allow us to draw conclusions about the causal relationships among events are:

• Temporal precedence: This means that the cause must precede or come before the effect takes place. The independent variable must precede the dependent variable.
• Non spurious relationship: The independent variable's relationship with the dependent variable cannot be attribute to chance.
• No alternate causes- There shouldn't be any other causes or variable which have an effect on the outcome.

The experimental method is the most effective method at drawing cause and effect conclusions. It is different from other methods in that it can specifically control elements in a study and find out the cause and its effects. The experimental method has an independent variable, this variable is the one which is administered by the researcher and manipulated by him so that its effect can be seen on the subject. The effect of the independent variable is called the depend variable, and the dependent variable in effect is the result of the study, and it shows how an independent variable as caused a dependent variable.

In an experimental study these variable are very carefully controlled, so that, apart from the independent variable no other variable is responsible for the effect which is seen on the subject. When a outside variable has contributed to effect of the dependent variable, it means that the experiment may suffer in its validity and hence it is very important to control such variable. These variables are called the confounding variable.