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Causality, mediation and time: a dynamic viewpoint
Summary. Time dynamics are often ignored in causal modelling. Clearly, causality must operate in time and we show how this corresponds to a mechanistic, or system, understanding of causality. The established counterfactual definitions of direct and indirect effects depend on an ability to manipulate...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
2012
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3500875/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23193356 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-985X.2011.01030.x |
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author | Aalen, Odd O Røysland, Kjetil Gran, Jon Michael Ledergerber, Bruno |
author_facet | Aalen, Odd O Røysland, Kjetil Gran, Jon Michael Ledergerber, Bruno |
author_sort | Aalen, Odd O |
collection | PubMed |
description | Summary. Time dynamics are often ignored in causal modelling. Clearly, causality must operate in time and we show how this corresponds to a mechanistic, or system, understanding of causality. The established counterfactual definitions of direct and indirect effects depend on an ability to manipulate the mediator which may not hold in practice, and we argue that a mechanistic view may be better. Graphical representations based on local independence graphs and dynamic path analysis are used to facilitate communication as well as providing an overview of the dynamic relations ‘at a glance’. The relationship between causality as understood in a mechanistic and in an interventionist sense is discussed. An example using data from the Swiss HIV Cohort Study is presented. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-3500875 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2012 |
publisher | Blackwell Publishing Ltd |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-35008752012-11-26 Causality, mediation and time: a dynamic viewpoint Aalen, Odd O Røysland, Kjetil Gran, Jon Michael Ledergerber, Bruno J R Stat Soc Ser A Stat Soc Original Articles Summary. Time dynamics are often ignored in causal modelling. Clearly, causality must operate in time and we show how this corresponds to a mechanistic, or system, understanding of causality. The established counterfactual definitions of direct and indirect effects depend on an ability to manipulate the mediator which may not hold in practice, and we argue that a mechanistic view may be better. Graphical representations based on local independence graphs and dynamic path analysis are used to facilitate communication as well as providing an overview of the dynamic relations ‘at a glance’. The relationship between causality as understood in a mechanistic and in an interventionist sense is discussed. An example using data from the Swiss HIV Cohort Study is presented. Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2012-10 2012-10 /pmc/articles/PMC3500875/ /pubmed/23193356 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-985X.2011.01030.x Text en © 2012 Royal Statistical Society http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ Re-use of this article is permitted in accordance with the Creative Commons Deed, Attribution 2.5, which does not permit commercial exploitation. |
spellingShingle | Original Articles Aalen, Odd O Røysland, Kjetil Gran, Jon Michael Ledergerber, Bruno Causality, mediation and time: a dynamic viewpoint |
title | Causality, mediation and time: a dynamic viewpoint |
title_full | Causality, mediation and time: a dynamic viewpoint |
title_fullStr | Causality, mediation and time: a dynamic viewpoint |
title_full_unstemmed | Causality, mediation and time: a dynamic viewpoint |
title_short | Causality, mediation and time: a dynamic viewpoint |
title_sort | causality, mediation and time: a dynamic viewpoint |
topic | Original Articles |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3500875/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23193356 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-985X.2011.01030.x |
work_keys_str_mv | AT aalenoddo causalitymediationandtimeadynamicviewpoint AT røyslandkjetil causalitymediationandtimeadynamicviewpoint AT granjonmichael causalitymediationandtimeadynamicviewpoint AT ledergerberbruno causalitymediationandtimeadynamicviewpoint |