Causal Inference & Root Cause Analysis

Table of Contents

• Workflow
  • 1. Define the Effect
  • 2. Generate Hypotheses
  • 3. Build Causal Model
  • 4. Test Causality
  • 5. Document & Validate
• Common Patterns
• Guardrails
• Quick Reference

Key concepts: root cause (fundamental issue), proximate cause (immediate trigger), confounding variable (third factor creating spurious correlation), counterfactual ("what would have happened without X?"), and causal mechanism (pathway through which X affects Y).

Quick Example: