Glossary

• 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 networks consisting 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 WHAT segment, but also may be a THEN statement if a DOES segment 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.
• Prevention: The avoidance of (a set of) component causes.
• 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 WHAT segment 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").