用11种方法交叉验证,找出观测数据中最可能的因果驱动因素。
Multi-Method Causal Evidence Synthesis: Ranking Candidate Drivers by Convergent Cross-Method Evidence from Observational Data
- 融合11种不同数学范式的分析方法,统一评分并聚合证据。
- 在真实和合成数据中,前5个预测结果正确率100%,前10个达96%。
- 适合需要优先筛选因果假设的研究者,尤其适用于无干预数据场景。
从观测数据推断因果关系的实践者通常依赖单一方法并将其结果视为因果事实。尽管已有工具可为数据集选择最优方法,或集成多个因果发现算法生成统一图谱,但很少有工作将不同数学传统(包括非因果方法)的证据进行整合。本文提出多方法因果证据综合框架(MCES),通过在面板数据上运行11种来自8类数学传统的分析方法,将输出合并为收敛证据得分(CES),量化不同分析视角对同一驱动-结果关系的一致性支持程度。该方法不宣称干预意义上的因果识别,仅用于假设优先排序,而非可转移的因果概率。MCES首先通过结构行为分解消除定义性(代数)关系,再对所有方法输出归一化至[0,1]区间后进行线性意见聚合。我们区分了MCES与方法选择、结构集成、预测集成及文献综述的不同。在包含真实因果结构的合成数据、Sachs蛋白信号基准、六个贝叶斯网络结构基准及两个额外合成域上的实验表明,MCES能将真实边排在前列(主情景下Precision@5=1.0,Precision@10=0.96),且低比例的无关联对达到中高等收敛度。核心观点并非该组合超越所有个体方法,而是没有单一方法在所有场景表现最优,因此MCES提供了一种无需依赖特定方法的默认策略。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Practitioners inferring causality from observational data usually rely on a single method and treat its output as causal truth. Recent tools select an optimal method for a dataset, and recent ensembles aggregate multiple causal-discovery algorithms into one graph, but little work pools evidence across different mathematical traditions, including non-causal ones. We present Multi-Method Causal Evidence Synthesis (MCES), a framework that ranks which candidate drivers in an observational system are most likely relevant to a set of outcomes, and with what strength of evidence. MCES runs eleven methods across eight mathematical traditions on observational panel data and pools their outputs into a Convergent Evidence Score (CES), a linear opinion pool. CES quantifies convergence of evidence across analytical lenses: the degree to which methods with different assumptions point to the same driver-outcome relationship. It does not claim causal identification in the interventionist sense; it supports hypothesis prioritization, not a transferable probability of causation. MCES first applies Structural-Behavioral Decomposition to remove definitional (algebraic) relationships, then runs all methods, normalizes outputs to [0,1], and pools them. We distinguish MCES from method selection, structural ensembles, prediction ensembles, and literature synthesis. Using synthetic data with embedded ground truth, the Sachs protein-signaling benchmark, six Bayesian-network structure benchmarks, and two further synthetic domains, we show MCES ranks true edges near the top (Precision@5 = 1.0, Precision@10 = 0.96 on the primary scenario), with a low empirical rate of null pairs reaching Moderate-or-higher convergence. Our central point is not that the pool beats every individual method, but that no single method is uniformly best across the evaluated scenarios, so MCES offers a method-agnostic default.
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