Social science causality is established only through converging divergent methodologies

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

Categorization

• XREF: Reinforces the methodological convergence lesson seen in the Frankfurt school’s triangulation of experiments, group discussions, and survey work.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 725