Propensity Score Analysis: Statistical Methods and Applications (Advanced Quantitative Techniques in the Social Sciences)

Fully updated to reflect the most recent changes in the field, the Second Edition of Propensity Score Analysis provides an accessible, systematic review of the origins, history, and statistical foundations of propensity score analysis, illustrating how it can be used for solving evaluation and causal-inference problems. With a strong focus on practical applications, the authors explore various strategies for employing PSA, discuss the use of PSA with alternative types of data, and delineate the limitations of PSA under a variety of constraints. Unlike existing textbooks on program evaluation and causal inference, this book delves into statistical concepts, formulas, and models within the context of a robust and engaging focus on application.

Shenyang Guo is the author of numerous research articles in child welfare, child mental health services, welfare, and health care. He has expertise in applying advanced statistical models to solving social welfare problems and has taught graduate courses that address survival analysis, hierarchical linear modeling, structural equation modeling, propensity score analysis, and program evaluation. In addition, Guo serves as the editor of SAGE Publication’s Advanced Quantitative Techniques in the Social Sciences Series and as a frequent reviewer for journals seeking a critique of advanced methodological analyses.

Guo is a fellow of American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare. In addition, Guo serves on behalf of Washington University as the assistant vice chancellor for International Affairs―Greater China and as the McDonnell International Academy ambassador to China working with Fudan University. He was appointed by China’s Ministry of Education in 2016 as the Yangtze-River Chaired Professor at Xi’an Jiaotong University, China.

Mark W. Fraser, PhD, holds the Tate Distinguished Professorship at the School of Social Work, University of North Carolina where he serves as associate dean for research. He has won numerous awards for research and teaching, including the Aaron Rosen Award and the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Society for Social Work and Research. His work focuses on risk and resilience, child behavior, child and family services, and research methods. Dr. Fraser has published widely, and, in addition to Social Policy for Children and Families, is the co-author or editor of eight books. These include Families in Crisis, a study of intensive family-centered services, and Evaluating Family-Based Services, a text on methods for family research. In Risk and Resilience in Childhood, he and his colleagues describe resilience-based perspectives for child maltreatment, substance abuse, and other social problems. In Making Choices, Dr. Fraser and his co-authors outline a program to help children build sustaining social relationships. In The Context of Youth Violence, he explores violence from the perspective of resilience, risk, and protection, and in Intervention with Children and Adolescents, Dr. Fraser and his colleagues review advances in intervention knowledge for social and health problems. Intervention Research: Developing Social Programs describes the design and development of social programs. His most recent book is Propensity Score Analysis: Statistical Methods and Applications. Dr. Fraser serves as editor of the Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research. He is a fellow of the National Academies of Practice and the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare.