Observation and Experiment : An Introduction to Causal Inference / Paul Rosenbaum.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rosenbaum, Paul, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Science--Experiments.

Science.

Observation (Scientific method).

Inference.

Probabilities.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (374 pages)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2018]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

We hear that a glass of red wine prolongs life, that alcohol is a carcinogen, that pregnant women should drink not a drop of alcohol. Major medical journals first claimed that hormone replacement therapy reduces the risk of heart disease, then reversed themselves and said it increases the risk of heart disease. What are the effects caused by consuming alcohol or by receiving hormone replacement therapy? These are causal questions, questions about the effects caused by treatments, policies or preventable exposures. Some causal questions can be studied in randomized trials, in which a coin is flipped to decide the treatment for the next experimental subject. Because randomized trials are not always practical, nor always ethical, many causal questions are investigated in non-randomized observational studies. The reversal of opinion about hormone replacement therapy occurred when a randomized clinical trial contradicted a series of earlier observational studies. Using minimal mathematics -- high school algebra and coin flips -- and numerous examples, Observation and Experiment explains the key concepts and methods of causal inference. Examples of randomized experiments and observational studies are drawn from clinical medicine, economics, public health and epidemiology, clinical psychology and psychiatry-- Provided by publisher

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

Reading Options

List of Examples

Part I. Randomized Experiments

1. A Randomized Trial

2. Structure

3. Causal Inference in Randomized Experiments

4. Irrationality and Polio

Part II. Observational Studies

5. Between Observational Studies and Experiments

6. Natural Experiments

7. Elaborate Theories

8. Quasi-experimental Devices

9. Sensitivity to Bias

10. Design Sensitivity

11. Matching Techniques

12. Biases from General Dispositions

13. Instruments

14. Conclusion

Appendix: Bibliographic Remarks

Notes

Glossary: Notation and Technical Terms

Suggestions for Further Reading

Acknowledgments

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 29. Aug 2018)

ISBN:

9780674983243

0674983246

9780674982697

067498269X

OCLC:

1054879028