In some accounts, a credible causal mechanism makes the difference between explanatory and non-explanatory propositions (Waldner, 2007, 146 Kiser & Hechter, 1991, 5 Mayntz, 2004, 14 Hedström, 2008).Īsking not just for a cause of an effect but also for the intermediate process in between is a deeper or second form of asking why (Pearl & Mackenzie, 2018, 299–300). Causal mechanisms are at the center of research in small-n analyses, often are a crucial part of the theoretical argument in large-n studies, and prove indispensable for scholars of systematic pathway analysis. An increasingly popular postulate of causal analysis maintains that good research includes some account of how one variable generates another to underpin a causal claim.
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