• The Effect: An Introduction to Research Design and Causality Book Club
  • Introduction
    • Book club meetings
    • Pace
    • Icebreaker
    • git and GitHub
    • Book Design
    • Levels of Understanding
  • 1 Designing Research
    • Main Goal
    • 1.1 I Have a Question
    • 1.2 Empirical Research
    • 1.3 Why Research Needs a Design
    • 1.4 In This Book
    • Meeting Videos
      • Cohort 1
  • 2 Research Questions
    • 2.1 What is a Research Question?
    • 2.2 Why Start with a Question?
    • 2.3 Where Do Research Questions Come From?
    • 2.4 How Do You Know if You’ve Got a Good One?
    • Actionable
    • Meeting Videos
      • Cohort 1
  • 3 Describing Variables
    • 3.1 Descriptions of Variables
      • School
      • Scorecard
    • 3.2 Types of Variables
    • 3.3 The Distribution
      • 3.3.1 Categorical Variables
      • 3.3.2 Histograms
      • 3.3.3 Density Plot
    • 3.4 Summarizing the Distribution
      • 3.4.1 Centrality
      • 3.4.2 Percentiles
    • Variation
      • Standard Deviation
      • Interquartile Range
    • Skew
    • 3.5 Theoretical Distributions
    • NHST
      • Null Hypothesis Significance Testing
    • Meeting Videos
      • Cohort 1
  • 4 Describing Relationships
    • 4.1 Relationships
    • 4.2 Conditional distributions
    • 4.3 Conditional means
    • 4.4 Line-fitting/regression
    • 4.5 Conditional Conditional Means (not a typo) AKA using controls
    • Meeting Videos
      • Cohort 1
  • 5 Identification
    • 5.1 The Data Generating Process
      • Introduction
      • Two Parts of DGPs
    • Hair Color Example
      • Two core ideas
    • 5.2 Where’s Your Variation?
      • DGP and Isolating Variation
      • Avocado DGP
    • 5.3 Identification
      • Example of Family Dog, Rex, Escaping House
      • Identification Process
    • Identification in Practice
    • 5.4 Alcohol and Mortality
      • Overview
      • Study Findings
      • Book Exercises
      • Example Answers
      • Issues with Causal Explanation
      • Controls in Study to Address Alternate Explanations
      • Lingering Issues
    • 5.5 Context and Omniscience
    • Meeting Videos
      • Cohort 1
  • 6 Causal Diagrams
    • 6.1 Causality
    • 6.2 Causal Diagrams
    • Coin-Cake Example
    • Unobserved Variables
    • 6.3 The Real World
    • 6.4 Research Questions
    • 6.5 Moderators
    • Meeting Videos
      • Cohort 1
  • 7 Drawing Causal Diagrams
    • 7.1 Our Idea of the World
    • 7.2 Thinking through the DGP
    • First Draft DAG
    • 7.3 Simplify
    • Revised DAG
    • 7.4 Avoiding Cycles
    • 7.5 Assumptions
    • Meeting Videos
      • Cohort 1
  • 8 Causal Paths and Closing Back Doors
    • 8.1 I Walk the Line
    • 8.2 Any Way You Like It
    • Wine and Lifespan Example
    • 8.3 Path types
    • 8.4 Closing paths
    • 8.5 Colliders
    • 8.6 Using Paths to Test the DAG
    • Placebo Test Example
    • Interpretation of Placebo Tests
    • Meeting Videos
      • Cohort 1
  • 9 Finding Front Doors
    • 9.1 Looking Ahead
    • 9.2 Trying to Push a String
    • Charter School Example
    • 9.3 What the World Can Do For Us
    • 9.4 Lottery-Bankruptcy Example
    • Air Pollution Example
    • Medicare Example
    • 9.5 Riding a Shooting Star
    • Meeting Videos
      • Cohort 1
  • 10 Treatment Effects
    • 10.1 For Whom the Effect Holds
    • 10.2 Different Averages
    • 10.3 I Just Want an ATE
    • 10.4 Who Cares?
    • Meeting Videos
      • Cohort 1
  • 11 Causality with Less Modeling
    • 11.1 Confidence
    • 11.2 Wide Open Spaces
    • Control Groups
    • 11.3 But Am I That Wrong?
    • Meeting Videos
      • Cohort 1
  • 12 Opening the Toolbox
    • 12.1 Methods that we’ll be checking out
    • 12.2 Structure of upcoming chapters
    • Meeting Videos
      • Cohort 1
  • 13 Regression
    • 13.1 Basics
    • 13.2 Error terms
    • 13.3 Regression assumptions
    • 13.4 Sampling variation
    • 13.5 Hypothesis testing in OLS
    • 13.6 Mantras about hypothesis testing
    • 13.7 Regression tables
      • 13.7.1 Interpretation
      • 13.7.2 Controls
    • 13.8 Subscripts in regression equations
    • 13.9 DAG to Regression
    • 13.10 Getting fancier
    • 13.11 Binary/discrete variables
    • 13.12 Polynomials
    • 13.13 Variable transformation
      • 13.13.1 Options
      • 13.13.2 Interpretation of log
    • 13.14 Interaction terms
    • 13.15 Nonlinear regressions
      • 13.15.1 good link functions
      • 13.15.2 Interpretation
    • 13.16 Standard errors
      • 13.16.1 Assumptions
      • 13.16.2 Fixes (mostly sandwich estimators)
      • 13.16.3 Bootstrapping
    • 13.17 Sample Weights
    • 13.18 Collinearity
    • 13.19 Measurement error
    • 13.20 Penalized regression
    • Meeting Videos
      • Cohort 1
  • 14 Matching
    • SLIDE 1
    • Meeting Videos
      • Cohort 1
  • 15 Simulation
    • SLIDE 1
    • Meeting Videos
      • Cohort 1
  • 16 Fixed Effects
    • SLIDE 1
    • Meeting Videos
      • Cohort 1
  • 17 Event Studies
    • 17.1 How does it work?
    • 17.2 Prediction and Deviation
    • 17.3 Terminology
    • 17.4 How it’s used in Finance
    • 17.5 How it’s used with regressions
      • 17.5.1 Example: Improved ambulance care
    • 17.6 How it’s used when taking time series seriously
    • 17.7 Forecasting with Time Series Models
    • 17.8 Joint tests
    • Meeting Videos
      • Cohort 1
  • 18 Difference-in-Differences
    • SLIDE 1
    • Meeting Videos
      • Cohort 1
  • 19 Instrumental Variables
    • 19.1 How does it work?
    • 19.2 Assumptions
    • 19.3 Canonical designs
    • 19.4 Instrumental Variables estimator
    • 19.5 Example: Insurance takeup
      • 19.5.1 2SLS
      • 19.5.2 GMM
    • 19.6 IV and treatment effects
    • 19.7 Checking IV assumptions
    • 19.8 How the Pros do it
    • 19.9 Don’t just test for weakness, fix it
    • 19.10 Way past LATE
    • 19.11 Nonlinear IV
    • 19.12 Validity violation
    • Meeting Videos
      • Cohort 1
  • 20 Regression Discontinuity
    • SLIDE 1
    • Meeting Videos
      • Cohort 1
  • 21 A Gallery of Rogues: Other Methods
    • SLIDE 1
    • Meeting Videos
      • Cohort 1
  • 22 Under the Rug
    • SLIDE 1
    • Meeting Videos
      • Cohort 1
  • Published with bookdown

The Effect: An Introduction to Research Design and Causality Book Club

Chapter 21 A Gallery of Rogues: Other Methods

Learning objectives:

  • THESE ARE NICE TO HAVE BUT NOT ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY