An observational study is an empiric investigation of the effects caused by a treatment, policy, or intervention in which it is not possible to assign subjects at random to treatment or control, as would be done in a controlled experiment. Observational studies are common in most fields that study the effects of treatments on people.
The second edition of Observational Studies is about 50% longer than the first edition, with many new examples and methods. There are new chapters on nonadditive models for treatment effects (5) and planning observational studies , and the chapter on coherence (9) has been extensively rewritten.
Paul R. Rosenbaum is Robert G. Putzel Professor, Department of Statistics, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a fellow of the American Statistical Association.
"This second edition is about fifty percent larger than the original. The flavour is the same. The book provides a thoughtful discussion, at a mathematical and conceptual level, of what can and cannot be learned from observational studies."
ISI Short Book Reviews, Vol. 22/2, August 2002
From reviews of the First Edition:
"A fascinating book which combines elegant theory with good practical advice on applications, including in-depth discussion of many interesting examples from diverse fields."
Short Book Reviews of the International Statistical Institute
"Observational Studies" will be extremely useful to researchers and graduate students in the biomedical and social sciences... The book is well written in an area where clarity is difficult... It will set a new standard for the analysis of observational studies."
Journal of the American Statistical Association
"Rosenbaum's text does a great job of merging the theoretical with the practical, and provides a nice resource for a broad range of researchers... Consultants and field researchers, particularly in public health, will appreciate the examples and discussion of different research designs."
The American Statistician
"Generously dispersed throughout the volume are fundamentally important, but seldom explicitly recognized, insights about the logic of research design. Virtually any reader will find much of value in this book, especially concerning design issues."
Applied Psychological Measurement
"In summary, Observational Studies is an excellent book. It should be widely and carefully read."
Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics
