Glossary

Path Analysis

Path Analysis:

Path analysis is a method for causal modeling . Consider the simple case of two independent variables x₁ and x₂ and one dependent variable. Path analysis splits the contribution of x₁ and x₂ to the variance of the dependent variable y into four components (paths): two direct paths – from x₁ to y and from x₂ to y :

x₁ – > y

x₂ – > y

and two indirect paths – from one independent variable through another to y :

x₁ – > x₂ – > y

x₂ – > x₁ – > y

The paths are expressed quantitatively as path coefficients – i.e. partial correlation coefficients between independent variables and the dependent variable, adjusted for other independent variables.

See also analysis of commonality – another method of causal modeling .

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