The Method of Path Coefficients

Abstract

The Method of path coefficients was suggested a number of years ago (Wright 1918, more fully 1920, 1921), as a flexible means of relating the correlation coefficients between variables in a multiple system to the functional relations among them. The method has been applied in quite a variety of cases. It seems desirable now to make a restatement of the theory and to review the types of application, especially as there has been a certain amount of misunderstanding both of purpose and of procedure.