Path Analysis: Sociological Examples

TLDR

Path analysis, introduced by Sewall Wright, provides a framework for explicitly modeling causal relationships and is especially useful in sociology for decomposing dependent variables and tracking successive cohort experiences, though it is intended for interpretation rather than cause discovery. The method can render interpretations explicit, self‑consistent, and open to rejection by future research.

Abstract

Linear causal models are conveniently developed by the method of path coefficients proposed by Sewall Wright. Path analysis is useful in making explicit the rationale of conventional regression calculations. It may also have special usefulness in sociology problems involving the decomposition of a dependent variable or those in which successive experiences of a cohort are measured. Path analysis focuses on the problem of interpretation and does not purpot to be a method for discovering causes. It may, nevertheless, be invaluable in rendering interpretations explicit, self-consistent, and susceptible to rejection by subsequent research.