The Elaboration Paradigm
Replication
Explanation
Interpretation
Specification
Refinements to the Paradigm
The crux of the elaboration model is what happens to the relationship between
two variables, when a third variable is held constant as a control. This
examination focuses on the "partial relationships" found in each of the subsets
created by the control variable: the relationship between age and religiosity
among men (one partial) and the same relationship among women (another partial),
for example. Lazarsfeld named each of the possible outcomes.
Replication: the original relationship stays the same in each of the
partial relationships. This supports the generalizability of the original
relationship.
Explanation: the original relationship disappears in each of the partials,
when an antecedent (earlier in time) control variable is introduced. This
suggests the original relationship was spurious or ingenuine, an artifact
of the relationship the control variable has with each of the other two.
Interpretation: the original relationship disappears in each of the
partials, when an intervening (between the other two variables in time) control
variable is introduced. This suggests the original relationship was
a genuine one, but we now know the mechanism or vehicle through which it
occurs.
Specification: the original relationship is maintained in one of the
partials but not in the other. In contrast to showing the generalizability
of the relationship, this outcome specifies the conditions under which it
occurs: only among men, for example, but not among women.
Other researchers have suggested refinements and extensions to the elaboration
model. In the case of suppression, for example, the relationship
between two variables might be hidden by a third variable, only to be revealed
when the third variable is controlled. In the more extreme case, a
distorter variable may actually reverse the genuine relationship between
two variables.