• Criteria for identifying a causal relation– cause (IV) must be related to the effect (DV) (relationship condition)– changes in IV must precede changes in DV (temporal order condition)– no other plausible explanation must exist for the effect For example, there is a correlationbetween coffee drinking and likelihood of having a heart attack. Condition 1 is met simply because these variables are related. ▪ Condition 2 is met because coffee drinking precedes heart attacks. ▪ The problem with claiming that coffee drinking causes heart attacks is with condition 3; there are plausible alternative explanations (e.g. smoking) for the observed relationship