Afternoon Seminars@CMIST - Jon Williamson - The role of mechanistic evidence in establishing causal claims
Dates: | 3 March 2015 |
Times: | 16:00 - 17:15 |
What is it: | Seminar |
Organiser: | School of Social Sciences |
Who is it for: | Current University students, University staff |
Speaker: | Jon Williamson |
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In this Afternoon Seminars@CMIST event, Jon Williamson from the University of Kent will deliver a talk entitled 'The role of mechanistic evidence in establishing causal claims'.
Abstract: The evidence-based approach to medicine, policy and science aims to make explicit the extent to which various sorts of evidence help establish a causal claim. While evidence-based approaches have been quite successful in assessing various kinds of evidence of correlations, the role of evidence of mechanisms has been largely overlooked. Yet in order to establish a causal claim one normally needs to establish both that there is a correlation and that this correlation is attributable to some underlying mechanism, rather than, say, to sample bias or confounding. In this talk I will explain why evidence of mechanisms is crucial and how one might make its role more explicit so as to improve evidence-based methods
Tea, coffee, and light refreshments provided.
No need to register; all welcome!
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