Lecture

Front Door Criterion: Adjustment Formula

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In course

MGT-416: Causal inference

Students will learn the core concepts and techniques of network analysis with emphasis on causal inference. Theory and application will be balanced, with students working directly with network data throughout the course. ...

Description

This lecture delves into the concept of the front door criterion, explaining the conditions required for a valid adjustment set in causal inference. The instructor demonstrates how to derive the front door adjustment formula step by step, emphasizing the importance of using observable variables. Through a detailed example involving confounding variables and causal effects, the lecture illustrates how to apply the front door criterion to analyze the impact of attending a university on marital success. By combining the backdoor criterion with the front door criterion, the instructor showcases a comprehensive approach to causal inference, highlighting the significance of proper adjustment sets in drawing accurate causal conclusions.

Instructor

Negar Kiyavash

Teaching & PhD PhD Students Mohammad Shahverdikondori, Badri Mohammad Reza, Arefe Boushehrian, Sepehr Elahi, Mohammadsadegh Khorasani, Mohammadsaeed Masiha, Amir Mohammad Aboueimehrizi Past EPFL PhD Students Sina Akbari, Ehsan Mokhtarian, Yaroslav Kivva, Fateme Jamshidi Courses Causal inference MGT-416 Students will learn the core concepts and techniques of network analysis with emphasis on causal inference. Theory andapplication will be balanced, with students working directly with networ

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Related concepts (14)

Causal inference

Causal inference is the process of determining the independent, actual effect of a particular phenomenon that is a component of a larger system. The main difference between causal inference and inference of association is that causal inference analyzes the response of an effect variable when a cause of the effect variable is changed. The science of why things occur is called etiology, and can be described using the language of scientific causal notation. Causal inference is said to provide the evidence of causality theorized by causal reasoning.

Causal model

In the philosophy of science, a causal model (or structural causal model) is a conceptual model that describes the causal mechanisms of a system. Several types of causal notation may be used in the development of a causal model. Causal models can improve study designs by providing clear rules for deciding which independent variables need to be included/controlled for. They can allow some questions to be answered from existing observational data without the need for an interventional study such as a randomized controlled trial.

Rubin causal model

The Rubin causal model (RCM), also known as the Neyman–Rubin causal model, is an approach to the statistical analysis of cause and effect based on the framework of potential outcomes, named after Donald Rubin. The name "Rubin causal model" was first coined by Paul W. Holland. The potential outcomes framework was first proposed by Jerzy Neyman in his 1923 Master's thesis, though he discussed it only in the context of completely randomized experiments.

Latent and observable variables

In statistics, latent variables (from Latin: present participle of lateo, “lie hidden”) are variables that can only be inferred indirectly through a mathematical model from other observable variables that can be directly observed or measured. Such latent variable models are used in many disciplines, including political science, demography, engineering, medicine, ecology, physics, machine learning/artificial intelligence, bioinformatics, chemometrics, natural language processing, management, psychology and the social sciences.

Causality

Causality (also called causation, or cause and effect) is influence by which one event, process, state, or object (a cause) contributes to the production of another event, process, state, or object (an effect) where the cause is partly responsible for the effect, and the effect is partly dependent on the cause. In general, a process has many causes, which are also said to be causal factors for it, and all lie in its past. An effect can in turn be a cause of, or causal factor for, many other effects, which all lie in its future.

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