Observational Studies

An Introduction to Propensity Score Methods for Reducing the Effects of Confounding in Observational Studies

Austin, P. C. (2011) · Multivariate Behavioral Research · doi:10.1080/00273171.2011.568786 · Cited by 12,242

SOME PRACTICAL GUIDANCE FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PROPENSITY SCORE MATCHING

Caliendo, M., & Kopeinig, S. (2008) · Journal of Economic Surveys · doi:10.1111/j.1467-6419.2007.00527.x · Cited by 6,238

Matching Methods for Causal Inference: A Review and a Look Forward

Stuart, E. A. (2010) · Statistical Science · doi:10.1214/09-sts313 · Cited by 5,478

Causal inference in statistics: An overview

Pearl, J. (2009) · Statistics Surveys · doi:10.1214/09-ss057 · Cited by 2,336

Recursive partitioning for heterogeneous causal effects

Athey, S., & Imbens, G. (2016) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1510489113 · Cited by 1,586

A tutorial on propensity score estimation for multiple treatments using generalized boosted models

McCaffrey, D. F., Griffin, B. A., Almirall, D., Slaughter, M. E., Ramchand, R., & Burgette, L. F. (2013) · Statistics in Medicine · doi:10.1002/sim.5753 · Cited by 1,450

Standards of Evidence: Criteria for Efficacy, Effectiveness and Dissemination

Flay, B. R., Biglan, A., Boruch, R. F., Castro, F. G., Gottfredson, D., Kellam, S., Mościcki, E. K., Schinke, S., Valentine, J. C., & Ji, P. (2005) · Prevention Science · doi:10.1007/s11121-005-5553-y · Cited by 1,338

Propensity score estimation with boosted regression for evaluating causal effects in observational studies

McCaffrey, D. F., Ridgeway, G., & Morral, A. R. (2004) · Psychological Methods · doi:10.1037/1082-989x.9.4.403 · Cited by 1,317

A comparison of 12 algorithms for matching on the propensity score

Austin, P. C. (2014) · Statistics in Medicine · doi:10.1002/sim.6004 · Cited by 1,085

Making sense of sensitivity: extending omitted variable bias

Cinelli, C., & Hazlett, C. (2020) · Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B: Statistical Methodology · doi:10.1111/rssb.12348 · Cited by 1,088

The performance of different propensity score methods for estimating marginal hazard ratios

Austin, P. C. (2013) · Statistics in Medicine · doi:10.1002/sim.5705 · Cited by 1,006

Why Do Customer Relationship Management Applications Affect Customer Satisfaction?

Mithas, S., Krishnan, M. S., & Fornell, C. (2005) · Journal of Marketing · doi:10.1509/jmkg.2005.69.4.201 · Cited by 776

Per-Protocol Analyses of Pragmatic Trials

Hernán, M. A., & Robins, J. M. (2017) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejmsm1605385 · Cited by 660

Sensitivity analysis for average treatment effects

Becker, S. O., & Caliendo, M. (2007) · The Stata Journal: Promoting communications on statistics and Stata · doi:10.1177/1536867x0700700104 · Cited by 620

Competing with complementors: An empirical look at Amazon.com

Zhu, F., & Liu, Q. (2018) · Strategic Management Journal · doi:10.1002/smj.2932 · Cited by 546

Adding Bricks to Clicks: Predicting the Patterns of Cross-Channel Elasticities over Time

Avery, J., Steenburgh, T. J., Deighton, J., & Caravella, M. (2012) · Journal of Marketing · doi:10.1509/jm.09.0081 · Cited by 533

The Use of Propensity Scores to Assess the Generalizability of Results from Randomized Trials

Stuart, E. A., Cole, S. R., Bradshaw, C. P., & Leaf, P. J. (2011) · Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A: Statistics in Society · doi:10.1111/j.1467-985x.2010.00673.x · Cited by 524

Multiple-bias modelling for analysis of observational data

Greenland, S. (2005) · Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A (Statistics in Society) · doi:10.1111/j.1467-985x.2004.00349.x · Cited by 497

Protected areas reduced poverty in Costa Rica and Thailand

Andam, K. S., Ferraro, P. J., Sims, K. R. E., Healy, A., & Holland, M. B. (2010) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0914177107 · Cited by 486

Who Gets a Swiss Passport? A Natural Experiment in Immigrant Discrimination

HAINMUELLER, J., & HANGARTNER, D. (2013) · American Political Science Review · doi:10.1017/s0003055412000494 · Cited by 433

Race as a Bundle of Sticks: Designs that Estimate Effects of Seemingly Immutable Characteristics

Sen, M., & Wasow, O. (2016) · Annual Review of Political Science · doi:10.1146/annurev-polisci-032015-010015 · Cited by 422

Content or Community? A Digital Business Strategy for Content Providers in the Social Age1

Oestreicher-Singer, G., & Zalmanson, L. (2013) · MIS Quarterly · doi:10.25300/misq/2013/37.2.12 · Cited by 422

What Would It Take to Change an Inference? Using Rubin’s Causal Model to Interpret the Robustness of Causal Inferences

Frank, K. A., Maroulis, S. J., Duong, M. Q., & Kelcey, B. M. (2013) · Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis · doi:10.3102/0162373713493129 · Cited by 406

Geographic Boundaries as Regression Discontinuities

Keele, L. J., & Titiunik, R. (2015) · Political Analysis · doi:10.1093/pan/mpu014 · Cited by 391

Causal inference with observational data

Nichols, A. (2007) · The Stata Journal: Promoting communications on statistics and Stata · doi:10.1177/1536867x0800700403 · Cited by 339

Causal inference and longitudinal data: a case study of religion and mental health

VanderWeele, T. J., Jackson, J. W., & Li, S. (2016) · Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology · doi:10.1007/s00127-016-1281-9 · Cited by 322

The adoption of genetically modified cotton and poverty reduction in Pakistan

Ali, A., & Abdulai, A. (2010) · Journal of Agricultural Economics · doi:10.1111/j.1477-9552.2009.00227.x · Cited by 320

Causal Inference About the Effects of Interventions From Observational Studies in Medical Journals

Dahabreh, I. J., & Bibbins-Domingo, K. (2024) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.2024.7741 · Cited by 242

Approaches to mixed methods dissemination and implementation research: methods, strengths, caveats, and opportunities

Green, C. A., Duan, N., Gibbons, R. D., Hoagwood, K. E., Palinkas, L. A., & Wisdom, J. P. (2015) · Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research · doi:10.1007/s10488-014-0552-6 · Cited by 205

LABELING EFFECTS OF FIRST JUVENILE ARRESTS: SECONDARY DEVIANCE AND SECONDARY SANCTIONING

LIBERMAN, A. M., KIRK, D. S., & KIM, K. (2014) · Criminology · doi:10.1111/1745-9125.12039 · Cited by 216

Associations of serious mental illness with earnings: results from the WHO World Mental Health surveys

Levinson, D., Lakoma, M. D., Petukhova, M., Schoenbaum, M., Zaslavsky, A. M., Angermeyer, M., Borges, G., Bruffaerts, R., de Girolamo, G., de Graaf, R., et al. (2010) · British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.109.073635 · Cited by 211

Best practices for analyzing large-scale health data from wearables and smartphone apps

Hicks, J. L., Althoff, T., Sosic, R., Kuhar, P., Bostjancic, B., King, A. C., Leskovec, J., & Delp, S. L. (2019) · npj Digital Medicine · doi:10.1038/s41746-019-0121-1 · Cited by 183

Reassessing Disparities in Online Learner Student Engagement in Higher Education

Paulsen, J., & McCormick, A. C. (2020) · Educational Researcher · doi:10.3102/0013189x19898690 · Cited by 186

Assessing the Effect of Race Bias in Post-traffic Stop Outcomes Using Propensity Scores

Ridgeway, G. (2006) · Journal of Quantitative Criminology · doi:10.1007/s10940-005-9000-9 · Cited by 176

Educational and Criminal Justice Outcomes 12 Years After School Suspension

Rosenbaum, J. (2020) · Youth & Society · doi:10.1177/0044118x17752208 · Cited by 174

Linear Models: A Useful "Microscope" for Causal Analysis

Pearl, J. (2013) · Journal of Causal Inference · doi:10.1515/jci-2013-0003 · Cited by 132

Quasi-experimental designs for causal inference

Kim, Y., & Steiner, P. (2016) · Educational Psychologist · doi:10.1080/00461520.2016.1207177 · Cited by 135

The role of causal criteria in causal inferences: Bradford Hill's "aspects of association"

Ward, A. C. (2009) · Epidemiologic Perspectives & Innovations · doi:10.1186/1742-5573-6-2 · Cited by 120

A Simple Multivariate Test for Asymmetric Hypotheses

Clark, W. R., Gilligan, M. J., & Golder, M. (2006) · Political Analysis · doi:10.1093/pan/mpj018 · Cited by 120

The relation between cesarean birth and child cognitive development

Polidano, C., Zhu, A., & Bornstein, J. C. (2017) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-017-10831-y · Cited by 119

Commentary: Advancing neighbourhood-effects research—selection, inferential support, and structural confounding

Oakes, J. M. (2006) · International Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1093/ije/dyl054 · Cited by 115

The Selective Labels Problem: Evaluating Algorithmic Predictions in the Presence of Unobservables

Lakkaraju, H., Kleinberg, J., Leskovec, J., Ludwig, J., & Mullainathan, S. (2017) · Proceedings of the 23rd ACM SIGKDD International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining · doi:10.1145/3097983.3098066 · Cited by 138

Across the Boundaries: Extrapolation in Biology and Social Science

Steel, D. (2007) · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195331448.001.0001 · Cited by 109

A flexible, interpretable framework for assessing sensitivity to unmeasured confounding

Dorie, V., Harada, M., Carnegie, N. B., & Hill, J. (2016) · Statistics in Medicine · doi:10.1002/sim.6973 · Cited by 104

How Bias Reduction Is Affected by Covariate Choice, Unreliability, and Mode of Data Analysis: Results From Two Types of Within-Study Comparisons

Cook, T. D., Steiner, P. M., & Pohl, S. (2009) · Multivariate Behavioral Research · doi:10.1080/00273170903333673 · Cited by 81

Differential Effects of Adult Court Transfer on Juvenile Offender Recidivism

Loughran, T. A., Mulvey, E. P., Schubert, C. A., Chassin, L. A., Steinberg, L., Piquero, A. R., Fagan, J., Cota-Robles, S., Cauffman, E., & Losoya, S. (2010) · Law and Human Behavior · doi:10.1007/s10979-009-9210-z · Cited by 77

Electronic cigarettes may not be a "safer alternative" of conventional cigarettes during pregnancy: evidence from the nationally representative PRAMS data

Kim, S., & Oancea, S. C. (2020) · BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth · doi:10.1186/s12884-020-03247-6 · Cited by 74

Effects of Correctional-Based Programs for Female Inmates: A Systematic Review

Tripodi, S. J., Bledsoe, S. E., Kim, J. S., & Bender, K. (2011) · Research on Social Work Practice · doi:10.1177/1049731509352337 · Cited by 63

For Whom Do Sanctions Deter and Label?

Morris, R. G., & Piquero, A. R. (2013) · Justice Quarterly · doi:10.1080/07418825.2011.633543 · Cited by 61

Sensitivity to Missing Data Assumptions: Theory and an Evaluation of the U.S. Wage Structure

Kline, P., & Santos, A. (2013) · Quantitative Economics · doi:10.3982/qe176 · Cited by 58

Tactics for Design and Inference in Synthetic Control Studies: An Applied Example Using High-Dimensional Data

Hollingsworth, A., & Wing, C. (2020) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3592088 · Cited by 53

Does mandating offenders to treatment improve completion rates?

Coviello, D. M., Zanis, D. A., Wesnoski, S. A., Palman, N., Gur, A., Lynch, K. G., & McKay, J. R. (2013) · Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment · doi:10.1016/j.jsat.2012.10.003 · Cited by 49

Meta‐Analysis Constrained by Data: Recommendations to Improve Relevance of Nutrient Management Research

Eagle, A. J., Christianson, L. E., Cook, R. L., Harmel, R. D., Miguez, F. E., Qian, S. S., & Ruiz Diaz, D. A. (2017) · Agronomy Journal · doi:10.2134/agronj2017.04.0215 · Cited by 47

Effects of adult inpatient group psychotherapy on attachment characteristics: an observational study comparing routine care to an untreated comparison group

Kirchmann, H., Steyer, R., Mayer, A., Joraschky, P., Schreiber-Willnow, K., & Strauss, B. (2012) · Psychotherapy Research · doi:10.1080/10503307.2011.626807 · Cited by 44

Reputation Burning: Analyzing the Impact of Brand Sponsorship on Social Influencers

Cheng, M. (., & Zhang, S. (2025) · Management Science · doi:10.1287/mnsc.2023.00193 · Cited by 55

Randomized controlled trials: what are they and who needs them?

Pihlstrom, B. L., Curran, A. E., Voelker, H. T., & Kingman, A. (2012) · Periodontology 2000 · doi:10.1111/j.1600-0757.2011.00439.x · Cited by 42

Propensity Score Matching for Education Data: Worked Examples

Powell, M. G., Hull, D. M., & Beaujean, A. A. (2020) · The Journal of Experimental Education · doi:10.1080/00220973.2018.1541850 · Cited by 40

A smoking ban in public places increases the efficacy of bupropion and counseling on cessation outcomes at 1 year

Grassi, M. C., Enea, D., Ferketich, A. K., Lu, B., & Nencini, P. (2009) · Nicotine & Tobacco Research · doi:10.1093/ntr/ntp110 · Cited by 35

EPIDEMIOLOGIC RESEARCH ON INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE AND COMMON PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?: Review: Violence and Common Psychiatric Disorders

Cerdá, M., DiGangi, J., Galea, S., & Koenen, K. (2012) · Depression and Anxiety · doi:10.1002/da.21947 · Cited by 34

Set-Theoretic Comparative Methods: Less Distinctive Than Claimed

Paine, J. (2016) · Comparative Political Studies · doi:10.1177/0010414014564851 · Cited by 28

Survey research methods in evaluation and case-control studies

Kalton, G., & Piesse, A. (2007) · Statistics in Medicine · doi:10.1002/sim.2796 · Cited by 27

Optimal multilevel matching using network flows: An application to a summer reading intervention

Pimentel, S. D., Page, L. C., Lenard, M., & Keele, L. (2018) · The Annals of Applied Statistics · doi:10.1214/17-aoas1118 · Cited by 26

Effects of HealthWise South Africa on Condom Use Self-efficacy

Coffman, D. L., Smith, E. A., Flisher, A. J., & Caldwell, L. L. (2011) · Prevention Science · doi:10.1007/s11121-010-0196-z · Cited by 24

The link between bond forfeiture and pretrial release mechanism: The case of Dallas County, Texas

Clipper, S. J., Morris, R. G., & Russell-Kaplan, A. (2017) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0182772 · Cited by 22

Investigating the Impact of Selection Bias in Dose-Response Analyses of Preventive Interventions

Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group*, McGowan, H. M., Nix, R. L., Murphy, S. A., & Bierman, K. L. (2010) · Prevention Science · doi:10.1007/s11121-010-0169-2 · Cited by 19

Estimating Treatment Effects: Matching Quantification to the Question

Loughran, T. A., & Mulvey, E. P. (2010) · Handbook of Quantitative Criminology · doi:10.1007/978-0-387-77650-7_9 · Cited by 16

Assessing the statewide impact of the Specter Vocational Program on reentry outcomes: A propensity score matching analysis

Hill, L., Scaggs, S. J. A., & Bales, W. D. (2017) · Journal of Offender Rehabilitation · doi:10.1080/10509674.2016.1257535 · Cited by 15

Genocidal Consolidation: Final Solutions to Elite Rivalry

van der Maat, E. (2020) · International Organization · doi:10.1017/s0020818320000259 · Cited by 9

Selection Neglect and Political Beliefs

Brundage, M., Little, A. T., & You, S. (2022) · doi:10.31219/osf.io/p49at · Cited by 7

The Relative Merits of Observational and Experimental Research: Four Key Principles for Optimising Observational Research Designs

Hamlin, R. (2022) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu14214649 · Cited by 6