social networks and causal inference

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1、Chapter17SocialNetworksandCausalInferenceTylerJ.VanderWeeleandWeihuaAnAbstractThischapterreviewstheoreticaldevelopmentsandempiricalstudiesrelatedtocausalinferenceonsocialnetworksfrombothexperimentalandobservationalstudies.Discussionisgiventotheeffectofexperimentalinterventionsonoutcomesand

2、behaviorsandhowtheseeffectsrelatetothepresenceofsocialties,thepositionofindividualswithinthenetwork,andtheunderlyingstructureandpropertiesofthenetwork.Theeffectsofsuchexperimentalinterventionsonchangingthenetworkstructureitselfandpotentialfeedbackbetweenbehaviorsandnetworkchangesarealsodis

3、cussed.Withobservationaldata,correlationsinbehaviororoutcomesbetweenindividualswithnetworktiesmaybeduetosocialinßuence,homophily,orenvironmentalconfounding.Withcross-sectionaldatathesethreesourcesofcorrelationcannotbedistinguished.Methodsemployinglongitudinalobservationaldatathatcanhelpdis

4、tinguishbetweensocialinßuence,homophily,andenvironmentalconfoundingaredescribed,alongwiththeirlimitations.ProposalsaremaderegardingfutureresearchdirectionsandmethodologicaldevelopmentsthatwouldhelpputcausalinferenceonsocialnetworksonaÞrmertheoreticalfooting.IntroductionAlthoughtheliteratur

5、eonsocialnetworkshasgrowndramaticallyinrecentyears(seeGoldenbergetal.2009;An2011a,forreviews),formaltheoryforinferringcausationonsocialnetworksisarguablystillinitsinfancy.Asdescribedelsewhereinthishandbook,muchoftherecenttheoreticaldevelopmentwithincausalinferencehasbeenwithinaÒcounterfact

6、ual-ÓorÒpotentialoutcomes-Óbasedperspective(Rubin1974;seealsoChap.5byMahoneyetal.,thisvolume),andthisapproachtypicallyemploysaÒnointerferenceÓassumption(Cox1958;Rubin1980;seealsoChap.16byHongandRaudenbush,thisvolume),thattheoutcomesofoneindividualarenotinßuencedbytheexposuresortreatmentsof

7、otherindividuals.SuchÒnointerferenceÓassumptionsareimplausibleinmanysociologicalsettingsandwillgenerallyfailwheneverthemechanismsrelatingatreatmentorexposuretoanoutcomecanbeinßuencedbysocialinteraction.Notinfrequently,socialnetworkdataiscollectedpreciselywhens