NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Back to results
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
ERIC Number: ED670978
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Jan
Pages: 23
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Combining Observational and Experimental Data for Causal Inference Considering Data Privacy
Charlotte Z. Mann3; Adam C. Sales2; Johann A. Gagnon-Bartsch1
Grantee Submission, Journal of Causal Inference v13 Article 20220081 2025
Combining observational and experimental data for causal inference can improve treatment effect estimation. However, many observational data sets cannot be released due to data privacy considerations, so one researcher may not have access to both experimental and observational data. Nonetheless, a small amount of risk of disclosing sensitive information might be tolerable to organizations that house confidential data. In these cases, organizations can employ data privacy techniques, which decrease disclosure risk, potentially at the expense of data utility. In this paper, we explore disclosure limiting transformations of observational data, which can be combined with experimental data to estimate the sample and population average treatment effects. We consider leveraging observational data to improve generalizability of treatment effect estimates when a randomized experiment (RCT) is not representative of the population of interest, and to increase precision of treatment effect estimates. Through simulation studies, we illustrate the trade-off between privacy and utility when employing different disclosure limiting transformations. We find that leveraging transformed observational data in treatment effect estimation can still improve estimation over only using data from an RCT.
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Institute of Education Sciences (ED); National Science Foundation (NSF), Division of Mathematical Sciences (DMS)
Authoring Institution: N/A
IES Funded: Yes
Grant or Contract Numbers: R305D210031; 1646108
Department of Education Funded: Yes