CausalPrism: A Visual Analytics Approach for Subgroup-based Causal Heterogeneity Exploration

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Zhou, Jiehui, Wang, Xumeng, Wong, Kam-Kwai, Zhang, Wei, Liu, Xingyu, Zhang, Juntian, Zhu, Minfeng, Chen, Wei
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2024
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author Zhou, Jiehui
Wang, Xumeng
Wong, Kam-Kwai
Zhang, Wei
Liu, Xingyu
Zhang, Juntian
Zhu, Minfeng
Chen, Wei
author_facet Zhou, Jiehui
Wang, Xumeng
Wong, Kam-Kwai
Zhang, Wei
Liu, Xingyu
Zhang, Juntian
Zhu, Minfeng
Chen, Wei
contents In causal inference, estimating Heterogeneous Treatment Effects (HTEs) from observational data is critical for understanding how different subgroups respond to treatments, with broad applications such as precision medicine and targeted advertising. However, existing work on HTE, subgroup discovery, and causal visualization is insufficient to address two challenges: first, the sheer number of potential subgroups and the necessity to balance multiple objectives (e.g., high effects and low variances) pose a considerable analytical challenge. Second, effective subgroup analysis has to follow the analysis goal specified by users and provide causal results with verification. To this end, we propose a visual analytics approach for subgroup-based causal heterogeneity exploration. Specifically, we first formulate causal subgroup discovery as a constrained multi-objective optimization problem and adopt a heuristic genetic algorithm to learn the Pareto front of optimal subgroups described by interpretable rules. Combining with this model, we develop a prototype system, CausalPrism, that incorporates tabular visualization, multi-attribute rankings, and uncertainty plots to support users in interactively exploring and sorting subgroups and explaining treatment effects. Quantitative experiments validate that the proposed model can efficiently mine causal subgroups that outperform state-of-the-art HTE and subgroup discovery methods, and case studies and expert interviews demonstrate the effectiveness and usability of the system. Code is available at https://osf.io/jaqmf/?view_only=ac9575209945476b955bf829c85196e9.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2407_01893
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle CausalPrism: A Visual Analytics Approach for Subgroup-based Causal Heterogeneity Exploration
Zhou, Jiehui
Wang, Xumeng
Wong, Kam-Kwai
Zhang, Wei
Liu, Xingyu
Zhang, Juntian
Zhu, Minfeng
Chen, Wei
Human-Computer Interaction
In causal inference, estimating Heterogeneous Treatment Effects (HTEs) from observational data is critical for understanding how different subgroups respond to treatments, with broad applications such as precision medicine and targeted advertising. However, existing work on HTE, subgroup discovery, and causal visualization is insufficient to address two challenges: first, the sheer number of potential subgroups and the necessity to balance multiple objectives (e.g., high effects and low variances) pose a considerable analytical challenge. Second, effective subgroup analysis has to follow the analysis goal specified by users and provide causal results with verification. To this end, we propose a visual analytics approach for subgroup-based causal heterogeneity exploration. Specifically, we first formulate causal subgroup discovery as a constrained multi-objective optimization problem and adopt a heuristic genetic algorithm to learn the Pareto front of optimal subgroups described by interpretable rules. Combining with this model, we develop a prototype system, CausalPrism, that incorporates tabular visualization, multi-attribute rankings, and uncertainty plots to support users in interactively exploring and sorting subgroups and explaining treatment effects. Quantitative experiments validate that the proposed model can efficiently mine causal subgroups that outperform state-of-the-art HTE and subgroup discovery methods, and case studies and expert interviews demonstrate the effectiveness and usability of the system. Code is available at https://osf.io/jaqmf/?view_only=ac9575209945476b955bf829c85196e9.
title CausalPrism: A Visual Analytics Approach for Subgroup-based Causal Heterogeneity Exploration
topic Human-Computer Interaction
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.01893