Introduction to the special section on Campbell's and Rubin's conceptualizations of causality

Abstract

Causality plays a fundamental role in scientific explanation. This introduction describes 2 target articles and 3 commentaries on 2 influential perspectives on causal inference, one developed by Donald Campbell and the other developed by Donald Rubin. One goal of this special section is to introduce Rubin's causal model to psychologists who may be largely unfamiliar with it. Another goal is to compare Rubin's conceptualization with Campbell's perspective, to enrich readers' understanding of both views. All of the authors of this special section perceive many similarities between the 2 approaches. Even so, by comparing and contrasting the 2 perspectives, the authors also believe that it is possible to strengthen both approaches.