Potential Outcomes Framework

The Potential Outcomes Framework is a way to understand the effects of a treatment or intervention by imagining all possible scenarios for each individual—what would happen if they received the treatment and what would happen if they didn't. Since we can only observe one of these scenarios for each person, researchers compare groups to estimate the average difference in outcomes, attributing that difference to the treatment. This approach helps in assessing causal effects by modeling what could potentially happen under different conditions, allowing for more accurate conclusions about cause and effect in studies.