worlddev-identification

• SKILL.mdcore · 7,014 bytes

# Identification & Inference Strategy (worlddev-identification)

## When to trigger

- A causal claim rests on OLS + controls, or TWFE on staggered timing
- An RCT or quasi-experiment exists but the estimand and external relevance are unstated
- A **qualitative** paper makes causal-sounding claims with no explicit inferential logic
- A **mixed-methods** paper runs strands in parallel without saying how they jointly warrant the claim
- You are unsure whether the evidence clears WD's bar for the *kind* of claim being made

## WD's pluralist standard

WD does not impose a single identification template. It imposes a single demand: **the route from evidence to claim must be explicit, defended, and matched to the claim's strength.** A paper that says "is associated with" needs descriptive credibility; a paper that says "causes" needs a design that earns it; a paper that says "this mechanism explains why" needs a logic — quantitative or interpretive — that traces the mechanism. The cardinal sin at WD is a **claim that outruns its warrant**, in either direction (over-claiming causality from correlation, or burying a genuine causal design under hedging). Pick the branch that fits your claim and make the warrant transparent.