Maziarz, Mariusz (2025) Randomized experiments and causal inference: Randomization balances the impact of confounders in the statistical sense. [Preprint]
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Abstract
In their recent defense of randomization, Martinez and Teira (2022) endorsed Worrall’s (2002; 2007) arguments that randomization does not assert the balance of confounding factors and delivered two other epistemic virtues of random assignment (efficiency balance and Fisherian balance). Worrall’s criticism claiming that randomization does not assert Millean balance shape the philosophical debates concerned with the role of randomization in causal inference and evidence hierarchies in medicine. We take issue with Worrall’s claim that randomization does not assert the balance of confounders. First, we argue that randomization balances the influence of confounders on an outcome in the statistical sense. Second, we analyze the potential outcome approach to causal inference and show that the average treatment effect (ATE) is an unbiased estimator of the average causal effect and observe that actual causal inferences rely on randomization balancing the impact of confounders.
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| Item Type: | Preprint | ||||||
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| Additional Information: | This preprint has not undergone peer review (when applicable) or any post-submission improvements or corrections. The Version of Record of this article is published in History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, and is available online at https://doi.org/ 10.1007/s40656-024-00655-1. | ||||||
| Keywords: | Randomized controlled trials, RCT, causal inference, randomization, potential outcomes approach, POA | ||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Data General Issues > Causation Specific Sciences > Probability/Statistics ٠ Out of Print ٠ |
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| Depositing User: | Mr Mariusz Maziarz | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 16 Jan 2025 14:29 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 16 Jan 2025 14:29 | ||||||
| Item ID: | 24564 | ||||||
| DOI or Unique Handle: | 10.1007/s40656-024-00655-1 | ||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Data General Issues > Causation Specific Sciences > Probability/Statistics ٠ Out of Print ٠ |
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| Date: | January 2025 | ||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/24564 |
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