Causal research, is the investigation of (

research Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

into) cause-relationships. To determine causality, variation in the variable presumed to influence the difference in another variable(s) must be detected, and then the variations from the other variable(s) must be calculated (s). Other confounding influences must be controlled for so they don't distort the results, either by holding them constant in the experimental creation of evidence. This type of research is very complex and the researcher can never be completely certain that there are no other factors influencing the causal relationship, especially when dealing with people's attitudes and motivations. There are often much deeper psychological considerations that even the respondent may not be aware of. There are two

research method Research is "creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness t ...

s for exploring the cause-and-effect relationship between variables: #

Experiment An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into Causality, cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome oc ...

ation (e.g., in a

laboratory A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physic ...

), and # Statistical research.

Experimentation

Experiments are typically conducted in laboratories where many or all aspects of the experiment can be tightly controlled to avoid spurious results due to factors other than the hypothesized causative factor(s). Many studies in

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

, for example, use this approach. Alternatively, field experiments can be performed, as with medical studies in which subjects may have a great many attributes that cannot be controlled for but in which at least the key hypothesized causative variables can be varied and some of the extraneous attributes can at least be measured. Field experiments also are sometimes used in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

, such as when two different groups of welfare recipients are given two alternative sets of incentives or opportunities to earn income and the resulting effect on their

labor supply In mainstream economic theories, the labour supply is the total hours (adjusted for intensity of effort) that workers wish to work at a given real wage rate. It is frequently represented graphically by a labour supply curve, which shows hypotheti ...

is investigated.

Statistical research

In areas such as

, most empirical research is done on pre-existing data, often collected on a regular basis by a government.

Multiple regression In statistical modeling, regression analysis is a set of statistical processes for estimating the relationships between a dependent variable (often called the 'outcome' or 'response' variable, or a 'label' in machine learning parlance) and one ...

is a group of related statistical techniques that control for (attempt to avoid spurious influence from) various causative influences other than the ones being studied. If the data show sufficient variation in the hypothesized

explanatory variable Dependent and independent variables are variables in mathematical modeling, statistical modeling and experimental sciences. Dependent variables receive this name because, in an experiment, their values are studied under the supposition or deman ...

of interest, its effect if any upon the potentially influenced variable can be measured.

References

{{Reflist Social science methodology