The Elaboration Model

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Chapter 15

• The Elaboration Model

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Chapter Outline

• The Origins of the Elaboration Model
• The Elaboration Paradigm
• Elaboration and Ex Post Facto Hypothesizing

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Steps in the Elaboration Model

• A relationship is observed to exist between two
  variables.
• A third variable is held constant in the sense
  that the cases under study are subdivided
  according to the attributes of that third
  variable.

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Steps in the Elaboration Model

• The original two-variable relationship is
  recomputed within each of the subgroups.
• The comparison of the original relationship with
  the relationships found within each subgroup
  provides a fuller understanding of the original
  relationship itself.

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Possible Outcomes of Elaboration Analysis

• Replication A set of partial relationships is
  essentially the same as the corresponding
  zero-order relationship.
• Explanation - A set of partial relationships is
  reduced essentially to zero when an antecedent
  variable is held constant.

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Possible Outcomes of Elaboration Analysis

• Interpretation - A set of partial relationships
  is reduced essentially to zero when an
  intervening variable is held constant).
• Specification - One partial relationship is
  reduced, ideally to zero, and the other remains
  about the same as the original relationship or is
  stronger.

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Replication

• The result when partial relationships are
  essentially the same as the original
  relationship.
• The original relationship has been replicated
  under test conditions.

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Explanation

• When an original relationship is shown to be
  false through the introduction of a test
  variable.
• Requires two conditions
• The test variable must be antecedent to both the
  independent and dependent variables.
• The partial relationships must be zero or
  significantly less than those found in the
  original.

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Interpretation

• The outcome in which a test or control variable
  is discovered to be the mediating factor through
  which an independent variable has its effect on a
  dependent variable.
• Does not deny the validity of the original causal
  relationship but clarifies the process through
  which that relationship functions.

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Specification

• Partial relationships that differ significantly
  from each other.
• Example one partial relationship is the same as
  or stronger than the original two-variable
  relationship, and the second partial relationship
  is less than the original and may be reduced to
  zero.
• Specifies the conditions under which the original
  relationship holds.

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Ex Post Facto Hypothesizing

• Development of hypotheses predicting
  relationships that have already been observed.
• Invalid because its impossible to disconfirm
  them.