论文标题
随机策略效应的有效非参数估计与聚类干扰
Efficient Nonparametric Estimation of Stochastic Policy Effects with Clustered Interference
论文作者
论文摘要
当单位的治疗(或暴露)影响另一个单位的结果时,就会发生干扰。在某些设置中,可以将单位分组为簇,以便合理地假设干扰(如果存在)仅在同一群集中的个体之间发生,即存在聚类的干扰。已经提出了各种因果估计,以量化观察数据的聚类干扰下的治疗效果,但是这些估计值要么需要缺乏现实世界中相关性的治疗策略,要么基于参数倾向分数模型。在这里,我们根据修改倾向得分分布的修改提出了新的因果估计,这在许多情况下可能更相关,而不是基于参数模型。构建了新估计数的非参数样品分裂估计量,从而可以灵活地对滋扰功能进行灵活的数据适应性估计,并且以通常的参数速率融合了一致,渐近正常且有效。仿真显示了拟议估计器的有限样本性能。提出的方法用于评估塞内加尔儿童中水,卫生和卫生设施对腹泻的影响。
Interference occurs when a unit's treatment (or exposure) affects another unit's outcome. In some settings, units may be grouped into clusters such that it is reasonable to assume that interference, if present, only occurs between individuals in the same cluster, i.e., there is clustered interference. Various causal estimands have been proposed to quantify treatment effects under clustered interference from observational data, but these estimands either entail treatment policies lacking real-world relevance or are based on parametric propensity score models. Here, we propose new causal estimands based on modification of the propensity score distribution which may be more relevant in many contexts and are not based on parametric models. Nonparametric sample splitting estimators of the new estimands are constructed, which allow for flexible data-adaptive estimation of nuisance functions and are consistent, asymptotically normal, and efficient, converging at the usual parametric rate. Simulations show the finite sample performance of the proposed estimators. The proposed methods are applied to evaluate the effect of water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities on diarrhea among children in Senegal.