Temporal sequence in observational studies to establish causality

Correct sampling in observational studies.

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Human genome editing as a tool to establish causality.

Gentle reader, are you able to drink whole milk? If yes, you have a single base pair in your genome to thank. Certain people can consume milk as adults because of agricultural practice–imposed selection for that ability, which has led to an increase in the frequency of a fascinating allele of the lactase gene. The lactase coding region has remained unchanged, and instead, the enhancer of the ge...

Observational studies and the difficult quest for causality: lessons from vaccine effectiveness and impact studies.

Although randomized placebo-controlled trials (RCT) are critical to establish efficacy of vaccines at the time of licensure, important remaining questions about vaccine effectiveness (VE)-used here to include individual-level measures and population-wide impact of vaccine programmes-can only be answered once the vaccine is in use, from observational studies. However, such studies are inherently...

Heterogeneity and Causality: Unit Heterogeneity and Design Sensitivity in Observational Studies

Before R. A. Fisher introduced randomization, the literature on empirical methods emphasized reducing heterogeneity of experimental units as key to inference about the e¤ects of treatments. To what extent is heterogeneity relevant to causal inference when ethical or practical constraints make random assignment infeasible? 1. Notation and Review 1.1. Review: Randomization Inference in a Paired E...

Causality in Social Studies Education