Σύγκριση μεθόδων

	Ανάλυση Αιτιακής Διαμεσολάβησης (Φυσικά Άμεσες και Έμμεσες Επιπτώσεις)	Παλινδρόμηση Ελαχίστων Τετραγώνων (OLS)	Σχεδιασμός Ασυγχώνιστης Παλινδρόμησης (Regression Discontinuity Design - RDD)
Πεδίο	Αιτιακή Συμπερασματολογία	Οικονομετρία	Αιτιακή Συμπερασματολογία
Οικογένεια	Regression model	Regression model	Regression model
Έτος προέλευσης	2010	2019	2008
Δημιουργός	Pearl (2001); general framework by Imai, Keele & Tingley (2010)	Wooldridge (textbook treatment); classical least squares	Imbens & Lemieux (guide to practice); Cattaneo, Idrobo & Titiunik (practical introduction)
Τύπος	Counterfactual causal decomposition	Linear regression	Quasi-experimental causal design
Θεμελιώδης πηγή	Pearl, J. (2001). Direct and Indirect Effects. In Proceedings of the Seventeenth Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence (UAI), 411-420.	Wooldridge, J. M. (2019). Introductory Econometrics: A Modern Approach (7th ed.). Cengage Learning. ISBN: 978-1337558860	Imbens, G. W., & Lemieux, T. (2008). Regression Discontinuity Designs: A Guide to Practice. Journal of Econometrics, 142(2), 615-635.
Εναλλακτικές ονομασίες	natural direct effect, natural indirect effect, NDE / NIE decomposition, counterfactual mediation	ordinary least squares, classical linear regression, linear regression, en küçük kareler regresyonu	RDD, regression discontinuity design, sharp RDD, fuzzy RDD
Συναφείς	5	5	5
Σύνοψη	Causal mediation analysis is a counterfactual framework that splits a treatment's total effect into a Natural Direct Effect (NDE) and a Natural Indirect Effect (NIE) that runs through a mediator. The modern general approach was formalised by Pearl (2001) and Imai, Keele and Tingley (2010), giving the decomposition a precise causal interpretation.	Ordinary Least Squares is the classical linear regression method that explains a continuous outcome as a linear combination of predictors. It estimates the coefficients by minimising the sum of squared residuals, and under the Gauss-Markov assumptions these estimates are the best linear unbiased estimator (BLUE).	Regression Discontinuity Design is a quasi-experimental method that identifies a causal effect by locally comparing units just above and just below a cutoff on a continuous assignment (running) variable. Formalised for applied work by Imbens and Lemieux (2008) and developed as a practical framework by Cattaneo, Idrobo, and Titiunik (2020), it estimates a local average treatment effect (LATE) at the threshold.