Natalie Koziol, CYFS research assistant professor, led a Feb. 7 presentation in the Spring 2020 Methodology Applications Series. Her presentation, “Pursuing Causal Inferences in the Absence (or Failure) of Random Assignment: An Introduction to Propensity Score Analysis,” is now available on video.
Koziol’s presentation explores propensity score analysis, a broad collection of methods designed to statistically equate two or more groups on a set of observed covariates to minimize selection bias.
She notes that randomized experiments are crucial for making causal inferences. Without randomization, post-treatment group differences may be confounded by pre-existing group differences — selection bias. But randomization is not always possible, practical or ethical in the social, behavioral and education sciences, so alternative, quasi-experimental methods are needed in the absence, or failure, of randomization.
The Methodology Applications Series is sponsored by CYFS’ MAP Academy. The next presentation is Friday, March 13, led by HyeonJin Yoon, CYFS research assistant professor, who will cover regression discontinuity designs in social science research.