Sociology 3306A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Causal Inference, Internal Validity

• School: Western University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: Sociology 3306A/B
• Professor: Holm

Document Summary

Causal inference = testing if manipulaitng x changes y. Observational research = use of non-experimental data: not making any experiments, all observing things. Two types of causal questions: what causes y and what happe(cid:374)s if we (cid:862)do(cid:863) x. If we change the value of x what wll happen to y: what causes y, ex. Stress (y) is due to social status, expose to sressors, access to resources, mental health (x: what happens if we (cid:862)do(cid:863) x, ex. If we expose students to stressful situations (x), then that causes you to feel stressed (y) If you control for department then you break the original relationship: endogenitity, threat to internal validity (the study actually shows a causal relationship) Exogenous variables: variables that are manipulated totally outside the system under study. Endogeneous variables: variables that are at least in part determined by the system under study: the tool to make endogenous variables exogenous is randomization.