Causal inference
What is Causal inference
- is prediction of intervention: What if I do this?
- is imputation of missing observations: What if I had done something else?
Confounds in causal inference
The Four Elemental Confounds
| Confound type | Description | Take care... |
|---|---|---|
| The Fork | X and Y are associated unless stratified by Z | - |
| The Pipe | X and Y are associated unless stratified by Z | post-treatment bias |
| The Collider | X and Y are not associated unless stratified by Z | collider bias |
| The Descendant | X and Y are causally associated through Z | once stratified by A, X and Y are less associated |