POLS 208 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Ecological Fallacy, Spurious Relationship, Graphical Model
5 Dec 2018
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Model - articulates and communicates a theory. Either a graphical picture or a mathematical equation. Path diagrams - type of graphical model used often. Causal relationship (change in one variable produces change in another variable) - changes in disorder causes crime. Disorder would be the independent variable, crime the dependent. The notion of how the change in the independent variable is presumed to cause change in the dependent variable. Along with the path diagram, there must be a state of how the process works. Intervening variables - represent steps in the causal process leading from the independent to the dependent variable. The plus or minus sign along the arrow in a model indicates the direction of the relationship. For categorical variables, you need to use different codes. Use nondirectional variables, indicate it with plus or minus on the arrow. Ecological fallacy - when the direction of the relationship may be reversed with different units of analysis.
