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Treatment Effects Analysis - Online Course

A 4-Week On-Demand Seminar Taught by

Stephen Vaisey
Course Dates: Ask about upcoming dates
Schedule:

Each Monday you will receive an email with instructions for the following week.

All course materials are available 24 hours a day. Materials will be accessible for an additional 2 weeks after the official close on December 16.

Watch Sample Video

This seminar focuses on matching and weighting cross-sectional observational data to obtain better causal estimates of treatment effects. The most common technique for estimating such effects is propensity score matching. We will cover this technique but you’ll soon see that it is just the tip of the iceberg; there are many, many more things you can do to extract key insights from cross-sectional observational data.

The course takes place online in a series of four weekly installments of videos, quizzes, and assignments, and requires about 6-8 hours/week. You may participate at your own convenience; there are no set times when you are required to be online.

This four-week course can be accessed with any recent web browser on almost any platform, including iPhone, iPad, and Android devices. It consists of 12 modules:

    1. The potential outcomes framework
    2. Computing treatment effects manually
    3. Exact matching
    4. Propensity scores
    5. Propensity score matching
    6. Balancing checking
    7. Inverse probability weighting
    8. Covariate balancing propensity scores and entropy balancing
    9. Coarsened exact matching
    10. Doubly robust estimation
    11. Adding regression adjustment
    12. Loose ends and extensions

Each module consists of a video segment recorded from the 3-day, livestream version of the course. The modules contain all the lectures and slides from that course.

After each module there is a short multiple-choice quiz to test your knowledge. There are also exercises in which you can apply what you’ve learned to a real data set. An online discussion forum is available for you to post questions or comments about any aspect of the course. All questions will be answered by Dr. Vaisey in a timely manner.

More details about the course content

Computing

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"I left the course feeling that I had a solid grounding and could go out and apply the techniques in my own work."

“I liked how clearly the instructor explained topics, provided solid conceptual understanding, and used specifics for implementing a range of techniques. I left the course feeling that I had a solid grounding and could go out and apply the techniques in my own work. The asynchronous format is great! Besides being easier to schedule, it allows one to pause the presentation and write notes, back up to hear things again, etc.”

Nick Huntington

Brandeis University

“I liked the scope of the course, the exercises, and the teacher's didactics.”

“I liked the scope of the course, the exercises, and the teacher’s didactics.”

Evandro Coutinho

Oswaldo Cruz Foundation

“The instructor is very experienced in using treatment analysis in empirical research."

The instructor is very experienced in using treatment analysis in empirical research. He explained the different types of treatment effects and different matchings very clearly based on his experience and understanding. The course clarifies the concepts that are extremely important, such as ATE, ATT, and ATC.  I also like the Stata examples, because I also use Stata in research. I also appreciate the quiz questions, which are closely relevant to course content. We can use them to test our understanding.

Lusi Yang

The University of Arizona

"Steve is an excellent teacher: he is able to explain complex concepts in a very clear, useful, and effective way."

“The course has been very useful to deepen my knowledge in the key aspects of causal inference. Steve is an excellent teacher: he is able to explain complex concepts in a very clear, useful, and effective way. I also liked the practical nature of the course: applying the methodology directly in Stata and discussing the output really helped me to understand how to implement it in my own research.” 

Oscar Llopis

Universitat de València

“Stephen Vaisey is a gifted instructor."

“Stephen Vaisey is a gifted instructor. He is both able to explain advanced concepts in a simple, clear manner and to make you laugh while he is doing it. This class is useful for any researcher who wants to improve their ability to make causal speculation with their research. I highly recommend this class and any that Stephen teaches.”

Dennis Reidy

Georgia State University

“The course covered an extremely complex topic clearly..."

“The course covered an extremely complex topic clearly and with a hands-on approach. I had taken a broader causal inference course before this, but I felt like this course really gave me the tools to conduct my own treatment effect analyses! Professor Vaisey was so good at making me think about these techniques through a research framework and how our research questions should really guide us towards what method to use.”

 

Daniel Stephens

Truth Initiative

"It was a great course and I was very happy I took it."

“I highly recommend this course. This is the second Statistical Horizons course I have taken. The first was on-site in Philadelphia a few years ago. It was a great course and I was very happy I took it. However, the online format is so much better. One gets the same lectures that are delivered on site, the same materials, given by the same top-rate instructors. The difference is that one can go through the materials at their own rate and take the time to process material before moving on to the next subject. Further, there is ample opportunity to interact with the instructor via the discussion forum. I am totally sold on this format and have already told Statistical Horizons to keep me updated about future online courses.”

Bob Reed

University of Canterbury

"He speaks clearly and has a wealth of examples to drive home the points made in his lectures.” 

“Stephen is a great instructor! He speaks clearly and has a wealth of examples to drive home the points made in his lectures.” 

Marina Feffer

Loyola University Chicago