scholarly journals Estimation of Heterogeneous Treatment Effects from Randomized Experiments, with Application to the Optimal Planning of the Get-Out-the-Vote Campaign

2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kosuke Imai ◽  
Aaron Strauss
Keyword(s):  
Treatment Effects ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Randomized Experiments ◽  
Heterogeneous Treatment Effects ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Current State ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Post Hoc ◽  
Get Out The Vote

Although a growing number of political scientists are conducting randomized experiments, many of them only report the average treatment effects and do not systematically explore the variation in treatment effects across subpopulations. This is unfortunate from a scientific point of view because heterogeneous treatment effects can provide additional substantive insights. This current state of affairs is also problematic from a policy makers' perspective since such studies do not identify subgroups for which treatments are effective. In this paper, we propose a formal two-step framework that first identifies heterogeneous treatment effects from a randomized experiment and then uses this information to derive an optimal policy about which treatment should be given to whom. Our proposed method avoids the risk of false discoveries that are likely in post hoc subgroup analysis routinely conducted in the discipline. We discuss our methodology in the context of get-out-the-vote randomized field experiments and show how the proposed two-step framework can be applied in real-world settings.

Estimating Heterogeneous Treatment Effects and the Effects of Heterogeneous Treatments with Ensemble Methods

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 413-434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Grimmer ◽  
Solomon Messing ◽  
Sean J. Westwood
Keyword(s):  
Treatment Effects ◽  
Ensemble Methods ◽  
Ensemble Method ◽  
Superior Performance ◽  
Accurate Estimation ◽  
Randomized Experiments ◽  
Heterogeneous Treatment Effects ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Heterogeneous Effects ◽  
The Ensemble Method

Randomized experiments are increasingly used to study political phenomena because they can credibly estimate the average effect of a treatment on a population of interest. But political scientists are often interested in how effects vary across subpopulations—heterogeneous treatment effects—and how differences in the content of the treatment affects responses—the response to heterogeneous treatments. Several new methods have been introduced to estimate heterogeneous effects, but it is difficult to know if a method will perform well for a particular data set. Rather than using only one method, we show how an ensemble of methods—weighted averages of estimates from individual models increasingly used in machine learning—accurately measure heterogeneous effects. Building on a large literature on ensemble methods, we show how the weighting of methods can contribute to accurate estimation of heterogeneous treatment effects and demonstrate how pooling models lead to superior performance to individual methods across diverse problems. We apply the ensemble method to two experiments, illuminating how the ensemble method for heterogeneous treatment effects facilitates exploratory analysis of treatment effects.

scholarly journals Metalearners for estimating heterogeneous treatment effects using machine learning

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (10) ◽  
pp. 4156-4165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sören R. Künzel ◽  
Jasjeet S. Sekhon ◽  
Peter J. Bickel ◽  
Bin Yu
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Treatment Effects ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Average Treatment Effect ◽  
Regularity Conditions ◽  
Heterogeneous Treatment Effects ◽  
Lipschitz Continuous ◽  
Additive Regression ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
And Control

There is growing interest in estimating and analyzing heterogeneous treatment effects in experimental and observational studies. We describe a number of metaalgorithms that can take advantage of any supervised learning or regression method in machine learning and statistics to estimate the conditional average treatment effect (CATE) function. Metaalgorithms build on base algorithms—such as random forests (RFs), Bayesian additive regression trees (BARTs), or neural networks—to estimate the CATE, a function that the base algorithms are not designed to estimate directly. We introduce a metaalgorithm, the X-learner, that is provably efficient when the number of units in one treatment group is much larger than in the other and can exploit structural properties of the CATE function. For example, if the CATE function is linear and the response functions in treatment and control are Lipschitz-continuous, the X-learner can still achieve the parametric rate under regularity conditions. We then introduce versions of the X-learner that use RF and BART as base learners. In extensive simulation studies, the X-learner performs favorably, although none of the metalearners is uniformly the best. In two persuasion field experiments from political science, we demonstrate how our X-learner can be used to target treatment regimes and to shed light on underlying mechanisms. A software package is provided that implements our methods.

scholarly journals Wyposażenie „PRL-owskiej” izby recepturowej ze zbiorów Muzeum Okręgowego im. Leona Wyczółkowskiego w Bydgoszczy. Genius loci czy suma przypadków?

2021 ◽  
pp. 187-203
Author(s):  
Gabriela Frischke ◽  
Roksana Wilczyńska ◽  
Wojciech Ślusarczyk
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Community Pharmacy ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Truncated Form ◽  
Museum Exhibits ◽  
Private Pharmacy ◽  
Current State ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Original Component

Equipment of a Prescription Room from the Polish People’s Republic Times in the Collection of Leon Wyczółkowski District Museum in Bydgoszcz. Genius loci or the Sum of Cases? In 2017, the Leon Wyczółkowski District Museum in Bydgoszcz purchased the collection of a private pharmacy museum, previously functioning in the back of the now-liquidated Pod Łabędziem (‘Under the Swan’) pharmacy in Bydgoszcz, first opened in 1853. Among the acquired museum exhibits, there is prescription room equipment from the Polish People’s Republic period. From the point of view of museum workers and researchers of pharmaceutical material culture, in order to learn more about the acquisitions, it is essential to answer the following questions: Where and when were the prescription furniture and their equipment produced? Were they used only in Pod Łabędziem (‘Under the Swan’) pharmacy? Is the room equipment complete? What can the preserved equipment tell us about the type of drugs produced there? The conducted analysis allows us to state that the prescription furniture were manufactured in Nowe nad Wisłą at the turn of the 1970s. The prescription room is an original component of the described pharmacy but preserved in a truncated form. Its location is secondary. Chaos reigns among the preserved utensils. The current state of affairs does not reflect the standards of work in the former community pharmacy. The sum of the cases prevails over the genius loci.

scholarly journals French Language Teaching at the Heart of the Translation Course

2021 ◽  
pp. 276-287
Author(s):  
Naoufal El Bakali
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
French Language ◽  
Current State ◽  
Translation Techniques ◽  
To Come ◽  
Arabic And English ◽  
State Of Affairs

Language learning is the foundation of any translation business, especially for students admitted to translation courses. In our case, mastering the French language, in order to carry out a translation, requires a perfect knowledge of the linguistic workings, likely to come to the aid of students who are learning translation techniques. In the current state of affairs, learning to translate at the graduate level suggests a perfect mastery of languages, both at the start and at the end. We would like to develop our study from a didactic and linguistic point of view, calling on other interdisciplinary parameters, since the question of learning to translate is at the crossroads of several cogitos. Therefore, teaching the language, in this case French represents a step, sine qua non, for the students of the King Fahd Superior School of Translation of Tangier, knowing that in Morocco, the French language still occupies the place. of the first foreign language. As a result, our students are required to translate from and into the French language alongside Arabic and English. As such, we have chosen to approach the didactics of translation, first of all, by looking over the language teaching which embodies an essential place for the success of the act of translating. All the axes that we develop in this article have a degree of analysis that oscillates between theory and practice, since language and translation are two activities which have two sides of the same coin.

scholarly journals The prospects of wooden building construction in Malaysia: Current state of affairs

BioResources ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 9840-9852
Author(s):  
Hazirah Ab Latib ◽  
Lum Wai Cheong ◽  
Rasmina Halis ◽  
Mohamad Roslan Mohamad Kasim ◽  
Lee Yan Yi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Financial Incentives ◽  
Construction Material ◽  
Building Construction ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Laminated Veneer Lumber ◽  
Current State ◽  
Timber Products ◽  
Industry Policy ◽  
State Of Affairs

The objective of this study was to evaluate the extent to which the practicing architects in Malaysia were familiar with timber products as a construction material. The materials consumption data was extracted from the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) database and was used to conduct a survey among 189 respondent architects. The results indicated that the architects were familiar with common timber products such as plywood, fiberboard, particleboard, and laminated veneer lumber. Correlation analysis of awareness and knowledge against the rate of utilization of these timber products was significant. Furthermore, the most important deterrent factors for the use of timber products in building construction in Malaysia were the high cost, poor durability, restrictive building codes and by-laws, as well as the low fire resistance. More aggressive promotion of timber products as a potential construction material is advisable to be undertaken when the goal is to boost the material’s use in the construction industry. Policy makers may also consider providing financial incentives to increase timber products utilization in building construction in Malaysia.

scholarly journals Immigration Governance for the Twenty-First Century

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Ellen Wasem
Keyword(s):  
Current System ◽  
First Century ◽  
Immigration Law ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Current State ◽  
Law And Policy ◽  
Chain Of Command ◽  
Political Spectrum ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Administrative Structures

The governance of immigration has a checkered past, and policy makers’ efforts at reform rarely meet expectations. Critiques have echoed over the years and across the political spectrum. The current system of immigration governance is scattered around the federal government, with no clear chain of command. No single government department or agency captures the breadth of the Immigration and Nationality Act's reach. At the crux of understanding immigration governance is acknowledging that immigration is not a program to be administered; rather, it is a phenomenon to be managed. The abundance of commissions that have studied the issues and the various administrative structures over time offers some wisdom on ingredients for successful governance. Based upon this research, options for effective immigration governance emerge. This paper studies the administration of immigration law and policy with an eye trained on immigration governance for the future. It opens with a historical overview that provides the backdrop for the current state of affairs. It then breaks down the missions and functions of the Immigration and Nationality Act by the lead agencies tasked with these responsibilities. The paper concludes with an analysis of options for improving immigration governance. Each of these options poses unique challenges as well as political obstacles.

The interrelationship between vocabulary acquisition theory and general SLA research

2001 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 69-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsten Haastrup ◽  
Birgit Henriksen
Keyword(s):  
Vocabulary Acquisition ◽  
Research Community ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Focus On Form ◽  
L2 Reading ◽  
Research Issues ◽  
Current State ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
High Degree

The current state of affairs is characterised as one in which general SLA models have syntax as their core and pay less and variable attention to other linguistic levels, notably lexis. In order to improve the current situation we need involvement from both the vocabulary research community and SLA model builders. It is demonstrated how the former group readily borrows key concepts from psycholinguistics and SLA theory and rethinks them from a lexical point of view. However, such borrowing and recasting is often done in a piecemeal fashion to fit specific research issues. As for SLA model builders, some examples are discussed that are regarded as serious attempts at integrating lexis into a particular acquisition model. One is L2 reading research and vocabulary acquisition through reading, which illustrates a high degree of integration with common research goals and mutual theoretical inspiration. A second example underlines the fact that there is an obvious potential for including lexis in the ‘focus on form’ movement. It is our contention that more attention to lexis should supplement the predominantly grammatical ‘focus on form’ that is the current norm.

scholarly journals The Issue of the Correlation between Legal Regimes of Territories of National Parks and Settlements Located Therein in the Russian Federation

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 36-39
Author(s):  
Sergey V. Kachushkin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Environmental Safety ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Scientific Article ◽  
Educational Value ◽  
Current State ◽  
Irkutsk Region ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
State Of Affairs

The study devotes its text to the important problem of the actual coexistence of Russian Federation’s national parks and some Russian settlements, mainly on the Irkutsk region example. The scientific article includes in its structure, among other things, the Pribaikalsky National Park’s brief description, as well as specific examples from the Irkutsk Region practice, in which settlements are still preserved and actively developed in the Pribaikalsky National Park. The work objectively takes into account the prevailing set of the Russian Federation’s environmental and land laws that regulate the national parks formation and functioning, in the sense that it allows to ensure genuine environmental safety within the borders of Russian national parks. The study actively criticizes the some individuals’ point of view, being regularly observed and permanently promoted at various levels of national government, supporting the idea of indispensable legal and actual preservation of the current state of affairs, as well as the idea of easing the existing environmental legislation norms admissibility, as a position that hides the true aspirations of these persons for achieving goals for the population well-being. At the same time, contrary to this position, the article proposes some different ways to improve national legislation in order to reduce and neutralize existing risks for the Russian ecological system. The article has a fairly high scientific and educational value, it is designed for a wide range of readers, both being related to the political or legal professions, and to environmental or other socially significant activities.

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