How does sensitivity analysis help in causal inference studies?
Instruction: Explain the purpose of sensitivity analysis and how it can be implemented in causal inference.
Context: This question evaluates the candidate's knowledge of sensitivity analysis as a method to test the robustness of the causal inferences against potential unmeasured confounding.
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Sensitivity analysis asks how a causal conclusion changes under specified departures from its assumptions. It can examine unmeasured confounding, missing outcomes, measurement error or alternative trend models. It does not detect every hidden cause or guarantee validity.
For an illustrative additive model, suppose an omitted binary U increases the outcome by 5 units and is 0.4 more prevalent in treatment than control after the...