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Evidence for Causal Mechanisms in Social Science: Recommendations from Woodward’s Manipulability Theory of Causation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Rosa W. Runhardt
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Abstract

In this article I analyze process tracing, a causal mechanism-based technique for testing causal claims in the social sciences that requires one to specify a chain of intervening causes between any putative cause and effect. I argue that one should not only give evidence that the intervening causes are present in a suitable case study, as process tracing methodologists recommend, but also provide counterfactual evidence to show that each link in the chain is genuinely causal. I detail what that counterfactual evidence should consist of, using Woodward’s manipulability theory, and argue that this evidence relies on tentative comparisons to other case studies.

Type
Social Sciences and Policy
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 82 , Issue 5 , December 2015 , pp. 1296 - 1307
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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