This review of The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect attempts to explain "reclaiming causal" from the perspective of an influential statistician and thinker.
The book review is more in-depth than many "because of the fundamental significance of this book and its subject matter to the evaluation community."
Reviewer
StevePowell, ProMENTE Social Research, Sarajevo
Key features
The reviewer suggests that the book's significance to the evaluation community lies in its exploration of causality, a crucial concept for evaluators. Understanding how interventions have an impact and assessing contributions requires a grasp of causality.
The review discusses key elements of the book including the ladder of knowledge with three levels:
- Level one (association): This information has no causal implications, but might be used to understand the probability of something occurring.
- Level two (causation): "Pearl’s approach to encoding causal information combines causal diagrams and ordinary mathematical and statistical expressions."
- Level three (counterfactuals): This level of understanding requires deep thought and several steps of calculations to establish what may have happened in the absence of an intervention or action.
Sources
Powell, S. (2018). [Review of The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect by Pearl, J. & Mackenzie, D.]. Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation, 14(31), 47-54.