Condition: The term “condition” is used for IF and
IFNOT parts of steps (IF conditions, IFNOT
conditions). See vignette("steplist").
CC: Component cause. A step type.
Component causes are start steps, i.e., they have no IF
condition but they might have an IFNOT condition. Unlike
interventions, they appear in IF conditions of other
steps. See vignette("steplist").
DAG: Directed acyclic graph. In maths, graphs are
basically networks consisiting of nodes and edges. Directed
means that edges are arrows. Acyclic means that, when you
follow the arrows, you never get back to the same node. DAG is the form
used for causal graphs. (Nodes are variables. Edges are causal
relations. Causal relations are asymmetric => directed. Variables
cannot cause themselves => acyclic.)
DOES: The second segment in the
WHAT DOES WHAT WHERE structure of THEN statements.
Refers usually to a verb in a sentence. See
vignette("steplist").
End step: A step type. Outcome
definitions consist of end steps combined with AND/OR logic.
epicmodel: Causal Modeling in Epidemiology
IF condition: The condition that has to be
fulfilled for a step to occur. See
vignette("steplist").
IFNOT condition: The condition that must
not be fulfilled for a step to occur. See
vignette("steplist").
ICC: Incompatible component causes. If a pair of
component causes cannot be part of the same sufficient
cause, they can be defined as ICC. Sets of component
causes, which include both, are assumed to be invalid and are not
checked during SCC model creation. See
vignette("steplist").
Intervention: A step type. Interventions
are start steps, i.e., they have no IF condition but
they might have an IFNOT condition. Unlike component
causes, they do not appear in IF
conditions of other steps but only in IFNOT
conditions. See vignette("steplist").
Module: Steps can be grouped together into
modules, which might be informative for certain SCC models. See
vignette("modules").
Minimal: A sufficient cause (SC) is
minimal, if there exists no smaller SC. SC1 is smaller than SC2 if SC1
only contains component causes that are also in SC2, but not
all of them. See vignette("scc").
Object: The third segment in the
WHAT DOES WHAT WHERE structure of THEN statements.
It is usually a WHATsegment, but also may be a
THEN statement if a DOESsegment with
then_object_does == 1 is used. See
vignette("steplist").
Outcome definition: It defines based on the
occurrence of certain steps that the outcome of interest has
occurred. See ?create_scc.
SC: Sufficient cause. A minimal set of
component causes, which fulfills the outcome
definition. See vignette("scc").
SCC: Sufficient-component cause. The causal
modeling framework at the core of epicmodel. For an
explanation of what “this thing called SCC model” is to
epicmodel, see vignette("scc").
Scenario: When creating IF conditions and
IFNOT conditions, steps within the same scenario are
combined with AND, while the scenarios themselves are combined with
OR.
Segment: THEN statements follow a
WHAT DOES WHAT WHERE structure. These elements, i.e.,
WHAT, DOES, and WHERE, are called segments.
See vignette("steplist").
Start step: A step type. They have no
IF condition but they might have an IFNOT condition.
Component causes and interventions are start steps.
See vignette("steplist").
Statement: The term “statement” is used for THEN
parts of steps (THEN statement). See
vignette("steplist").
Step: Steps are small parts of the complex
mechanism that leads to outcome occurrence. See
vignette("steplist").
Step types: Steps can play different roles
in SCC model creation. Examples are start steps,
component causes, interventions, end steps,
IFNOT steps, as well as non-starting steps. IFNOT steps are
steps with IFNOT condition. Non-starting steps are
steps with IF condition. See
vignette("steplist").
Steplist: The steplist is the collection of all
steps in a pre-defined format. It is the only input for
SCC model creation. See vignette("steplist").
Subject: The first WHATsegment
in the WHAT DOES WHAT WHERE structure of THEN
statements. See vignette("steplist").
THEN: THEN statements are a part of steps
and describe what actually happens. The THEN statement happens if the
IF condition is fulfilled and if the IFNOT condition
is not fulfilled. See vignette("steplist").
WHAT: Segments of the THEN
statements, which are used in subjects and
objects and represent people, things, concepts, etc. See
vignette("steplist").
WHERE: The last segment in the
WHAT DOES WHAT WHERE structure of THEN statements.
Refers usually to a location. See
vignette("steplist").