sparcc-day-1

SPARCC Day 1: The Data Analyst’s Guide to Cause and Effect

Welcome to the repository for Day 1 of the SPARCC Causal Inference Workshop

📅 Workshop Details

Date: Monday, 11 August 2025
Time: 09:00 – 17:00
Venue: Seventh College, 15th Floor Meeting Rooms, Tower West, Building 1
Facilitator: Benjamin Grant Purzycki, Aarhus University

🌈 About This Workshop

This workshop introduces fundamental concepts and practical skills for causal inference in observational data, with a focus on applications to the study of religion and cooperation.

🔗 Quick Links

📚 Pre-Workshop Preparation

Optional Reading (in order of importance):

Rohrer, J. M. (2018). Thinking clearly about correlations and causation. DOI: 10.1177/2515245917745629
Major-Smith, D. (2023). Exploring causality from observational data. DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2023.17
Bendixen, T, and Purzycki, B. G. (forthcoming). The Data Analyst’s Guide to Cause and Effect. Chapters 1-4. Download Book

Software Requirements:

R (version 4.0+)
RStudio
Required R packages (see website for installation instructions)

🎯 Learning Objectives

By the end of Day 1, participants will be able to:

Think causally about correlations in observational data
Draw and interpret causal diagrams (DAGs)
Identify confounders, colliders, and other sources of bias
Apply the EESI workflow to structure research projects
Select appropriate control variables for causal analyses
Understand basic estimation approaches

🌈 Scan to Access Workshop Materials

Scan this QR code to access the workshop website on your mobile device :::