ABSTRACT
Social scientists are often asked to determine whether one thing causes another. The answer to this question of causality may have important implications for public policy. However, it is generally difficult to establish that “A causes B” beyond a shadow of a doubt, and researchers often arrive at conflicting conclusions depending on their data sources and methods. This conundrum is, of course, not confined to the social sciences. Researchers in the hard sciences often come to conflicting conclusions regarding questions such as what killed the dinosaurs, the existence of global warming, and the safety and effectiveness of hormone replacement therapy for older women.
