The choice of theoretical and empirical estimands
- Theoretical estimands requires arguments about theory and goals 
- Empirical estimands require conceptual arguments about unobservable data. 
- STATING THE GOAL ALLOWS THE READER AND COMMUNITY TO ENGAGE AND BUILD ON THE WORK. 



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The first is a unit-specific quantity: defined as a realized outcome, a potential outcome, or a difference in potential outcomes. Potential outcome can have an intervention of more than one variable. 



Goal setting 

Lundberg, I., Johnson, R., & Stewart, B. (2020, January 7). What is Your Estimand? Defining the Target Quantity Connects Statistical Evidence to Theory. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/ba67n

What is your Estimand? Defining the target Quantity Connects Statistical Evidence to Theory  

Each theoretical estimand is linked to an empirical (observational) estimand, which is by predicting the relationship through the data. These assumptions can be conveyed in a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAC). Eventually, one finds the empirical estimand (e.g. Regression model). Exemplifying both the theoretical estimand and the empirical estimand allows for the link between theory and evidence, and different modes of arguments. The distinction is subtle but important: the former may involve unobservable quantities while the latter involves only observable data. 

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