Workshop on Research Design for Causal Inference

August 12, 2019 • 8:00 AM • Law School 3041

Research design for causal inference is at the heart of a "credibility revolution" in empirical research. We will cover the design of true randomized experiments and contrast them to natural or quasi-experiments and to pure observational studies, where part of the sample is treated in some way, a remainder is a control group, but the researcher controls neither the assignment of cases to treatment and control groups nor administration of the treatment. We will assess the causal inferences one can draw from a research design, threats to valid inference, and research designs that can mitigate those threats. Sponsored by Duke Law, Northwestern Law, and the Society for Empirical Legal Studies. For more information, please contact Isabel Fox at isabel.fox@law.duke.edu.