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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...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Aalen, Odd O, Røysland, Kjetil, Gran, Jon Michael, Ledergerber, Bruno
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2012
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.
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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
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