Quantifying the Robustness of Causal Inferences: Extensions and Application to Existing Databases

The purpose of this project is to advance, extend, and apply existing sensitivity analysis techniques to make them most useful for education research and practice. Specifically, the researchers will expand the Impact Threshold for a Confounding Variable (ITCV) and the Robustness of Inference to Replacement (RIR) approaches to a variety of designs and design features, such as differential attrition, moderation analyses, and regression discontinuity designs. In doing so, the researchers hope to provide a more precise language for researchers advocating a causal inference and challengers of that inference to interpret impacts by debating the strength of the evidence relative to concerns about potential violations of the assumptions of the inference.