The False Dichotomy of Causal and Non-Causal Research in the Educational Sciences: Re-Embracing the Causal Continuum

In recent years, scholars across the social and educational sciences have increasingly advanced a subtle but consequential falsehood—that specific instances of research fall into two categories, “causal” research, which uses a finite set of empirical strategies to clearly establish cause and effect relationships, and all other, non-causal research. We term this false logic “the causal dichotomy.” In this article we trace the origins of the causal dichotomy, review why causal robustness lies on a continuum, provide evidence of its prevalence from a novel coding of education journals, and discuss its potential consequences. Fortunately, the causal dichotomy can be easily avoided, even as researchers continue to maintain an emphasis on inferential rigor that benefits the field.