{"title":"Interview with Don Rubin","authors":"D. Rubin","doi":"10.1353/obs.2022.0009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/obs.2022.0009","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":74335,"journal":{"name":"Observational studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43132484","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Perspective on Interviews with Heckman, Pearl, Robins and Rubin","authors":"V. Didelez","doi":"10.1353/obs.2022.0010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/obs.2022.0010","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":74335,"journal":{"name":"Observational studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47605672","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Interview with James Heckman","authors":"J. Heckman","doi":"10.1353/obs.2022.0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/obs.2022.0006","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":74335,"journal":{"name":"Observational studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42601495","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Using propensity scores for racial disparities analysis","authors":"Fan Li","doi":"10.1353/obs.2023.0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/obs.2023.0005","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Propensity score plays a central role in causal inference, but its use is not limited to causal comparisons. As a covariate balancing tool, propensity score can be used for controlled descriptive comparisons between groups whose memberships are not manipulable. A prominent example is racial disparities in health care. However, conceptual confusion and hesitation persists for using propensity score in racial disparities studies. In this commentary, we argue that propensity score, possibly combined with other methods, is an effective tool for racial disparities analysis. We describe relevant estimands, target population, and assumptions. In particular, we clarify that a controlled descriptive comparison requires weaker assumptions than a causal comparison. We discuss three common propensity score weighting strategies: overlap weighting, inverse probability weighting and average treatment effect for treated weighting. We further describe how to combine weighting with the rank-and-replace adjustment method to produce racial disparity estimates concordant to the Institute of Medicine’s definition. The method is illustrated by a re-analysis of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data.","PeriodicalId":74335,"journal":{"name":"Observational studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45405608","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Revisiting the Propensity Score’s Central Role: Towards Bridging Balance and Efficiency in the Era of Causal Machine Learning","authors":"N. Hejazi, M. J. van der Laan","doi":"10.1353/obs.2023.0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/obs.2023.0001","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:About forty years ago, in a now–seminal contribution, Rosenbaum and Rubin (1983) introduced a critical characterization of the propensity score as a central quantity for drawing causal inferences in observational study settings. In the decades since, much progress has been made across several research frontiers in causal inference, notably including the re-weighting and matching paradigms. Focusing on the former and specifically on its intersection with machine learning and semiparametric efficiency theory, we re-examine the role of the propensity score in modern methodological developments. As Rosenbaum and Rubin (1983)’s contribution spurred a focus on the balancing property of the propensity score, we re-examine the degree to which and how this property plays a role in the development of asymptotically efficient estimators of causal effects; moreover, we discuss a connection between the balancing property and efficient estimation in the form of score equations and propose a score test for evaluating whether an estimator achieves empirical balance.","PeriodicalId":74335,"journal":{"name":"Observational studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48027197","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Propensity Score Modeling: Key Challenges When Moving Beyond the No-Interference Assumption","authors":"Hyunseung Kang, Chan Park, R. Trane","doi":"10.1353/obs.2023.0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/obs.2023.0003","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:The paper presents some models for the propensity score. Considerable attention is given to a recently popular, but relatively under-explored setting in causal inference where the no-interference assumption does not hold. We lay out some key challenges in propensity score modeling under interference and present a few promising models based on existing works on mixed effects models.","PeriodicalId":74335,"journal":{"name":"Observational studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47342181","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}