This article considers how people judge the identity of objects (e.g., how people decide that a description of an object at one time, t-sub-0, belongs to the same object as a description of it at another time, t-sub-1). The authors propose a causal continuer model for these judgments, based on an earlier theory by Nozick (1981). According to this…

The purpose of this exploratory case study was to identify, investigate, and describe factors that contributed to the academic success of Phelps High School, a rural, isolated, Appalachian high school in Pike County Kentucky. The academic index of the school in 2000 was 48% and in a six year period the academic index of the school improved to 94%.…

Based on earlier studies using the 1999 and 2004 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF) data [1, 2], a causal model explaining faculty technology use was constructed. Path analysis was used to test the causal effects of age, gender, highest degree, discipline (health science or not), recent research productivity, and teaching load on…

The dominant discourse in research, management and teaching is one that may loosely be characterised as that of prediction and control. The objective of research is to identify causal correlations within policy, management, teaching strategies and educational outcomes that are sufficiently robust as to be able to predict outcomes and make…

This study sought to improve students' comprehension of scientific graphs by adapting scaffolding techniques used to aid text comprehension. In 3 experiments involving 121 female and 88 male college students, some students were shown cognitive aids prior to viewing 4 geography graphs whereas others were not; all students were then asked to write a…

Three experiments investigated whether participants used Take The Best (TTB) Configural, a fast and frugal heuristic that processes configurations of cues when making inferences concerning which of two alternatives has a higher criterion value. Participants were presented with a compound cue that was nonlinearly separable from its elements. The…

This paper asserts that causality is an intriguing but controversial topic in philosophy, statistics, and educational and psychological research. By supporting the Causal Markov Condition and the faithfulness condition, Clark Glymour attempted to draw causal inferences from structural equation modeling. According to Glymour, in order to make…

The purpose of this paper is to provide an in-depth critical analysis of the use and misuse of correlation coefficients. Various analytical and interpretational misconceptions are reviewed, beginning with the egregious assumption that correlational statistics may be useful in inferring causality. Additional misconceptions, stemming from…

Regression artifacts are a source of mistaken causal inference in inferences based on time-series data and from longitudinal studies. These artifacts are illustrated, and it is noted that their magnitude is computable (and distinguishable from genuine effects) if the autocorrelation patterns for various lags is known. (SLD)

A causal model of halo error (HE) is derived. Three hypotheses are formulated to explain findings of negative HE. It is suggested that apparent negative HE may have been misinferred from existing correlational measures of HE, and that positive HE is more prevalent than had previously been thought. (SLD)

Describes procedures for constructing story-based causal diagrams. Discusses the cognitive and pragmatic constraints that govern the tendency to attribute events to incomplete causes. Uses causal diagrams to analyze major disagreements about the 1987 stock market crash. Explores how causal diagrams may mitigate the constraints on causal…

Offers a critical commentary on theory-based evaluation, stressing its utility as a method of program planning and as an adjunct to experiments but rejecting it as an alternative to experiments. Cites seven reasons for doubting that theory-based evaluations can provide the valid conclusions about a program's causal effects that proponents have…

We present a framework for the rational analysis of elemental causal induction--learning about the existence of a relationship between a single cause and effect--based upon causal graphical models. This framework makes precise the distinction between causal structure and causal strength: the difference between asking whether a causal relationship…

The ability to derive predictions for the outcomes of potential actions from observational data is one of the hallmarks of true causal reasoning. We present four learning experiments with deterministic and probabilistic data showing that people indeed make different predictions from causal models, whose parameters were learned in a purely…

Background: In a longitudinal study we tested Frith's causal hypothesis that children first gain orthographic knowledge through reading and then later, as a consequence, through spelling. Method: Children from Years 2 and 3 were tested three times over two years on their reading and spelling of pseudo-words which conformed to the conditional…