TY - JOUR UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11245-013-9220-9 ID - discovery1427791 N1 - The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11245-013-9220-9. JF - Topoi N2 - Evidence-based medicine (EBM) makes use of explicit procedures for grading evidence for causal claims. Normally, these procedures categorise evidence of correlation produced by statistical trials as better evidence for a causal claim than evidence of mechanisms produced by other methods. We argue, in contrast, that evidence of mechanisms needs to be viewed as complementary to, rather than inferior to, evidence of correlation. In this paper we first set out the case for treating evidence of mechanisms alongside evidence of correlation in explicit protocols for evaluating evidence. Next we provide case studies which exemplify the ways in which evidence of mechanisms complements evidence of correlation in practice. Finally, we put forward some general considerations as to how the two sorts of evidence can be more closely integrated by EBM. SN - 0167-7411 SP - 339 AV - public Y1 - 2014/10// TI - Mechanisms and the Evidence Hierarchy VL - 33 KW - Mechanism KW - Difference-making KW - Evidence KW - Evidence of mechanism KW - Evidence in medicine KW - Evidence-based medicine A1 - Clarke, B A1 - Gillies, D A1 - Illari, P A1 - Russo, F A1 - Williamson, J EP - 360 IS - 2 ER -