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In educational research, estimating causal effects often is the goal, although this is not always stated explicitly. For instance, we are interested in whether one or the other type of school has beneficial effects on students' achievements. In comparing several schools, we are striving towards fair comparisons. Comparisons are fair when they adequately take into account that schools differ in their student populations. Differences in achievements between students of different schools are, for example, due to the students' socio-economic status. Apparently, it would be not fair to compare two schools without considering this and other diversities. This applies not only to a static consideration of achievements, but also to the value-added-approach that focuses on changes in achievements. Basically, fair comparisons make sure that the estimated effects can be attributed to schools and their work and not to systematic selection from diverse populations.

Finally, classical intervention research, which evaluates different methods of instruction as well as social intervention, has always been an application area of empirical causal research. In this case, it is essential to compare interventions adjusting for possible selection effects. Even though there already are some studies based upon an explicit theory of causal effects, these studies are still rare. Furthermore, there are also new developments in the theory of causal effects, which have not yet been applied in educational research at all. Hence, we believe that this symposium can really make a contribution to the methodology of empirical educational research.