IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/evarev/v32y2008i2p157-186.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Truncation-by-Death Problem

Author

Listed:
  • Sheena McConnell

    (Mathematica Policy Research, Washington, DC)

  • Elizabeth A. Stuart

    (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD)

  • Barbara Devaney

    (Mathematica Policy Research, Princeton, NJ)

Abstract

Although experiments are viewed as the gold standard for evaluation, some of their benefits may be lost when, as is common, outcomes are not defined for some sample members. In evaluations of marriage interventions, for example, a key outcome—relationship quality—is undefined when a couple splits up. This article shows how treatment-control differences in mean outcomes can be misleading when outcomes are not defined for everyone and discusses ways to identify the seriousness of the problem. Potential solutions to the problem are described, including approaches that rely on simple treatment-control differences-in-means as well as more complex modeling approaches.

Suggested Citation

  • Sheena McConnell & Elizabeth A. Stuart & Barbara Devaney, 2008. "The Truncation-by-Death Problem," Evaluation Review, , vol. 32(2), pages 157-186, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:evarev:v:32:y:2008:i:2:p:157-186
    DOI: 10.1177/0193841X07309115
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0193841X07309115
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0193841X07309115?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Constantine E. Frangakis & Donald B. Rubin, 2002. "Principal Stratification in Causal Inference," Biometrics, The International Biometric Society, vol. 58(1), pages 21-29, March.
    2. repec:mpr:mprres:4029 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. David S. Lee, 2005. "Training, Wages, and Sample Selection: Estimating Sharp Bounds on Treatment Effects," NBER Working Papers 11721, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Frangakis, Constantine E. & Brookmeyer, Ronald S. & Varadhan, Ravi & Safaeian, Mahboobeh & Vlahov, David & Strathdee, Steffanie A., 2004. "Methodology for Evaluating a Partially Controlled Longitudinal Treatment Using Principal Stratification, With Application to a Needle Exchange Program," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 99, pages 239-249, January.
    5. Joshua Angrist & Eric Bettinger & Michael Kremer, 2006. "Long-Term Educational Consequences of Secondary School Vouchers: Evidence from Administrative Records in Colombia," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(3), pages 847-862, June.
    6. repec:mpr:mprres:4700 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Sartori, Anne E., 2003. "An Estimator for Some Binary-Outcome Selection Models Without Exclusion Restrictions," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(2), pages 111-138, April.
    8. David Myers & Robert B. Olsen & Neil Seftor & Julie Young & Christina Clark Tuttle, "undated". "The Impacts of Regular Upward Bound: Results from the Third Follow-Up Data Collection," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 145dc84be33e47e494cb5569f, Mathematica Policy Research.
    9. Peter Z. Schochet & John Burghardt & Steven Glazerman, 2001. "National Job Corps Study: The Impacts of Job Corps on Participants' Employment and Related Outcomes," Mathematica Policy Research Reports db6c4204b8e1408bb0c6289ec, Mathematica Policy Research.
    10. Leeb, Hannes & Pötscher, Benedikt M., 2008. "Can One Estimate The Unconditional Distribution Of Post-Model-Selection Estimators?," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 24(2), pages 338-376, April.
    11. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    12. Yolanda Kodrzycki, 1997. "Training programs for displaced workers: what do they accomplish?," New England Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, issue May, pages 39-57.
    13. repec:mpr:mprres:2951 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Huber, Martin & Mellace, Giovanni, 2011. "Testing instrument validity in sample selection models," Economics Working Paper Series 1145, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    2. Martin Huber & Giovanni Mellace, 2014. "Testing exclusion restrictions and additive separability in sample selection models," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 75-92, August.
    3. Michael Lechner & Blaise Melly, 2007. "Earnings Effects of Training Programs," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2007 2007-28, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen.
    4. Michael Ziegelmeyer & Julius Nick, 2013. "Backing out of private pension provision: lessons from Germany," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 40(3), pages 505-539, August.
    5. German Blanco & Carlos A. Flores & Alfonso Flores-Lagunes, 2013. "Bounds on Average and Quantile Treatment Effects of Job Corps Training on Wages," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 48(3), pages 659-701.
    6. Martin Huber, 2012. "Identification of Average Treatment Effects in Social Experiments Under Alternative Forms of Attrition," Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, , vol. 37(3), pages 443-474, June.
    7. Patrick Hamm & David Stuckler & Lawrence King, 2006. "Mass Privatization and the Postcommunist Mortality Crisis," Working Papers wp118, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    8. Fan Li & Constantine E. Frangakis, 2006. "Polydesigns and Causal Inference," Biometrics, The International Biometric Society, vol. 62(2), pages 343-351, June.
    9. Markus Frölich & Martin Huber, 2014. "Treatment Evaluation With Multiple Outcome Periods Under Endogeneity and Attrition," Journal of the American Statistical Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 109(508), pages 1697-1711, December.
    10. Allen, Franklin & Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Klapper, Leora & Martinez Peria, Maria Soledad, 2016. "The foundations of financial inclusion: Understanding ownership and use of formal accounts," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 1-30.
    11. John M. de Figueiredo & Brian Kelleher Richter, 2013. "Advancing the Empirical Research on Lobbying," NBER Working Papers 19698, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Lee, Seung-Hyun & Makhija, Mona & Paik, Yongsun, 2008. "The value of real options investments under abnormal uncertainty: The case of the Korean economic crisis," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 16-34, January.
    13. Dilek Basar & Sarah Brown & Arne Risa Hole, 2012. "Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditure in Turkey: Analysis of the Household Budget Surveys 2002-2008," Working Papers 2012020, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics.
    14. Andrea Mercatanti & Fan Li, 2017. "Do debit cards decrease cash demand?: causal inference and sensitivity analysis using principal stratification," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 66(4), pages 759-776, August.
    15. Wolfgang Drobetz & Dimitrios Gounopoulos & Anna Merika & Andreas Merikas, 2017. "Determinants of Management Earnings Forecasts: The Case of Global Shipping IPOs," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 23(5), pages 975-1015, October.
    16. Kédagni, Désiré, 2023. "Identifying treatment effects in the presence of confounded types," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 234(2), pages 479-511.
    17. Shuxi Zeng & Fan Li & Peng Ding, 2020. "Is being an only child harmful to psychological health?: evidence from an instrumental variable analysis of China's one‐child policy," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 183(4), pages 1615-1635, October.
    18. Michael R. Elliott & Marshall M. Joffe & Zhen Chen, 2006. "A Potential Outcomes Approach to Developmental Toxicity Analyses," Biometrics, The International Biometric Society, vol. 62(2), pages 352-360, June.
    19. Peter Frase & Janet Gornick, 2009. "The Time Divide in Cross-National Perspective: The Work Week, Gender and Education in 17 Countries," LIS Working papers 526, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    20. Brown, Sarah & Hole, Arne Risa & Kilic, Dilek, 2014. "Out-of-pocket health care expenditure in Turkey: Analysis of the 2003–2008 Household Budget Surveys," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 211-218.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:evarev:v:32:y:2008:i:2:p:157-186. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.