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Abduction Dialog

Since version 10

The steps to perform a counterfactual analysis are described in the article Causal Inference.

One of the steps, called Abduction, can be made easier using the Abduction dialog in Bayes Server.

Abduction Dialog

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In the sample network Counterfactuals BOW the variables Uex and Us are known as characteristic variables. These help us capture idiosyncratic characteristics of an individual/item.

The abduction step simply queries the current values V for the characteristic variables, given the current evidence. It then removes the evidence corresponding to the current individual/item, and then sets evidence on the characteristic variables to V.

See Counterfactual analysis for detail on all the steps required to perform a counterfactual analysis.

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Although it was possible to perform abduction manually in versions prior to 10, the Abduction Dialog simplifies the process.