However, since the ICILS 2013 data do not allow causal interpretations of the direction of these relations, alternative explanations may exist.
There are also well-known limitations to the policy implications of findings from cross-sectional data because of the difficulty in supporting causal interpretations of those findings.
Given that our results are based on a cross-sectional study, we should be careful not to make causal interpretations of the correlations.
Using the example of reference drug pricing in British Columbia we discuss assumptions for causal interpretations of such analyses, and provide supplementary analyses to assess and improve the validity of findings.
The results show that poor school performance has a negative impact on later psychosocial problems net of observed background attributes and potential selection on unobservables, suggesting that the estimated effects allow for causal interpretations.
As the present study is based on a cross-sectional approach no causal interpretations regarding the direction of the associations between non-cognitive skills and the investigated life success indicators can be drawn.
Biases such as recall errors in self-reported mobile phone use, lack of confounding control, e.g. of other aspects of mobile phone use than RF fields, trained behaviors, and pubertal development, makes causal interpretations impossible.
First, the cross-sectional design of the present study precludes causal interpretations.
However, peer effects are difficult to estimate and causal interpretations must be undertaken with caution since individuals in most cases choose with whom to associate.
The animate-inanimate distinction is considered a foundational one, because it arises early in infancy, is cross-culturally uniform, and is critical for causal interpretations of actions and events [17] [18].
