Model choice between causal orderings must rest on theory, not data alone

Evidence

Because of the social and ethical constraints listed above, the challenge to verifying causality is endemic to the social sciences rather than unique to media influences. Verification of causation in the social sciences therefore requires converging evidence from these diverse methodologies. Establishing the causal role that mass media play in people’s lives requires considerable methodological ingenuity. Hence, this review of the evidence for each of the major four effects of exposure to televised violence is based on diverse methodologies. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 725 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Guaranteed prediction products require causal knowledge gained through experiments — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 931; Testing two-level causal theories demands concentrated depth over superficial breadth — Gary Goertz, Social Science Concepts: A User’s Guide, 1711; Social science causality is established only through converging divergent methodologies — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 725

Broader Connections

• Social science causality is established only through converging divergent methodologies #complicates (0.75) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 725