Seeking causality in transport research
Transport policy asks causal questions, yet much transport research answers them with associative designs and then uses causal language. This Perspective (i) distinguishes causal, associational, and descriptive claims, (ii) offers a compact set of norms and a checklist for aligning claims with identification, and (iii) illustrates these ideas with examples drawn from pricing, operations, access, network evolution, and evaluation.
Authors
- David M. Levinson
Institutions
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- UNSW Sydney (AU)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Transportation Research Today
- Published
- 2026-02-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trt.2026.100001
- Primary Topic
- Transportation Planning and Optimization
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00