Causal Inference for Social Network Data

DOI10.1080/01621459.2022.2131557MaRDI QIDQ6154017zbMATH OpenWikidataFDO

Authors Elizabeth L. Ogburn, Oleg Sofrygin, Iván Díaz, Mark J. Van der Laan

Publication date 19 March 2024

Published in Journal of the American Statistical Association (Search for Journal in Brave)

Copyright license Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1705.08527

zbMATH Keywords

causal inferencesocial networkssemiparametric inferencestatistical dependence

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Statistics (62-XX)

Abstract: We describe semiparametric estimation and inference for causal effects using observational data from a single social network. Our asymptotic results are the first to allow for dependence of each observation on a growing number of other units as sample size increases. In addition, while previous methods have implicitly permitted only one of two possible sources of dependence among social network observations, we allow for both dependence due to transmission of information across network ties and for dependence due to latent similarities among nodes sharing ties. We propose new causal effects that are specifically of interest in social network settings, such as interventions on network ties and network structure. We use our methods to reanalyze an influential and controversial study that estimated causal peer effects of obesity using social network data from the Framingham Heart Study; after accounting for network structure we find no evidence for causal peer effects.

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Cited in

(1)

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