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Descriptive science is a category of science that involves descriptive research; that is, observing, recording, describing, and classifying phenomena.Descriptive research is sometimes contrasted with hypothesis-driven research, which is focused on testing a particular hypothesis by means of experimentation.
Causal inference is the process of determining the independent, actual effect of a particular phenomenon that is a component of a larger system. The main difference between causal inference and inference of association is that causal inference analyzes the response of an effect variable when a cause of the effect variable is changed.
To establish that the prime implicants or descriptive inferences derived from the data by the QCA method are causal requires establishing the existence of causal mechanism using another method such as process tracing, formal logic, intervening variables, or established multidisciplinary knowledge. [4]
Unlike descriptive statements (e.g. "the average height in the US is X"), causal statements involve a comparison between what happened and what would have happened absent an intervention. The latter is unobservable in the real world, a fact that Holland & Rubin term "the fundamental problem of causal inference" (pg. 10).
Causal analysis is the field of experimental design and statistics pertaining to establishing cause and effect. [1] Typically it involves establishing four elements: correlation, sequence in time (that is, causes must occur before their proposed effect), a plausible physical or information-theoretical mechanism for an observed effect to follow from a possible cause, and eliminating the ...
Causal research, is the investigation of (research into) cause-relationships. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] 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).
Process tracing is a qualitative research method used to develop and test theories. [1] [2] [3] Process-tracing can be defined as the following: it is the systematic examination of diagnostic evidence selected and analyzed in light of research questions and hypotheses posed by the investigator (Collier, 2011).
Causal reasoning is the process of identifying causality: the relationship between a cause and its effect.The study of causality extends from ancient philosophy to contemporary neuropsychology; assumptions about the nature of causality may be shown to be functions of a previous event preceding a later one.