Learning Objectives

Define in plain language – and illustrate with social epidemiology examples – the assumptions for valid causal inference in observational research
Explain controlled direct effect, natural direct effect, and natural indirect effect in the context of mediation or effect decomposition analysis, particularly in the context of health equity
Given data, and a DAG, estimate and interpret the controlled direct effect, natural direct effect, natural indirect effect and total effect of an exposures-mediator-outcome association
Understand how epistemology motivates the questions we ask and how we present data.
Critically evaluate the application of descriptive epidemiology in their own and published work