Search

Inverse propensity weighting (IPW) is a popular method for estimating treatment effects from observational data. However, its correctness relies on the untestable (and frequently implausible) assumption that all confounders have been measured. This article introduces a robust sensitivity analysis for IPW that estimates the range of treatment effects compatible with a given amount of unobserved confounding. The estimated range converges to the narrowest possible interval (under the given assumptions) that must contain the true treatment effect. Our proposal is a refinement of the influential sensitivity analysis by Zhao, Small, and Bhattacharya, which we show gives bounds that are too wide even asymptotically. This analysis is based on new partial identification results for Tan's marginal sensitivity model. for this article are available online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After performing a randomized experiment, researchers often use ordinary least-square (OLS) regression to adjust for baseline covariates when estimating the average treatment effect. It is widely known that the resulting confidence interval is valid even if the linear model is misspecified. In this article, we generalize that conclusion to covariate adjustment with nonlinear models. We introduce an intuitive way to use any "simple" nonlinear model to construct a covariate-adjusted confidence interval for the average treatment effect. The confidence interval derives its validity from randomization alone, and when nonlinear models fit the data better than linear models, it is narrower than the usual interval from OLS adjustment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]