ABSTRACT
An ongoing question that arises from the current state of educational effectiveness concerns the nature of the relationships between so-called ‘effectiveness factors’ and student learning outcomes. Although the intention of many studies may be to show causal relations between such factors and student achievement, most reveal only associations between very specific factors and student achievement, the extent that certain factors can predict variation in student outcomes and, in longitudinal studies, how such factors predict change over time. Because the topic of causality is rarely addressed explicitly, in this chapter we discuss its meaning by looking at different orientations within the research methodology and examine the potential importance of searching for causality within EER. Causality is seen as related to the need to establish appropriate theoretical models of educational effectiveness and the use of them for improvement purposes.
