Instruction: Propose a methodology that accounts for both observed and unobserved confounders.
Context: The question aims to examine the candidate's capability in designing a causal study that includes handling complex scenarios like unobserved heterogeneity.
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To start, let's clarify our primary objective: we aim to infer the causal effect of remote working on employee efficiency. Efficiency could be quantitatively measured using various metrics, such as the completion rate of assigned tasks, the quality of work output, or more direct indicators like sales volume or code commit frequency, depending on the specific job function. For the sake of this discussion, let's define efficiency as the number of tasks completed per unit of time, a metric straightforward to calculate and widely applicable.
The crux of our challenge lies in dealing with both observed and unobserved confounders. Observed confounders are variables that we can measure and know might influence both the independent variable (remote working) and the dependent variable (employee efficiency), such as employee's role, level of experience, and available home office setup. Unobserved confounders, on the other hand, are variables that we either cannot measure or have not measured, such as an employee's personal motivation or the presence of...