antiExactMatch: Specify a matching problem where units in a common factor cannot be matched.

Description

This function builds a distance specification where treated units are infinitely far away from control units that share the same level of a given factor variable. This can be useful for ensuring that matched groups come from qualitatively different groups.

Usage

antiExactMatch(x, z)

Value

A distance specification that encodes the across factor level constraint.

Arguments

x: A factor across which matches should be allowed.
z: A logical or binary vector the same length as x indicating treatment and control for each unit in the study. TRUE or 1 represents a treatment unit, FALSE of 0 represents a control unit. NA units are excluded.

Details

The exactMatch function provides a way of specifying a matching problem where only units within a factor level may be matched. This function provides the reverse scenario: a matching problem in which only units across factor levels are permitted to match. Like exactMatch, the results of this function will most often be used as a within argument to match_on or another distance specification creation function to limit the scope of the final distance specification (i.e., disallowing any match between units with the same value on the factor variable x).

Examples

Run this code

data(nuclearplants)

# force entries to be within the same factor:
em <- fullmatch(exactMatch(pr ~ pt, data = nuclearplants), data = nuclearplants)
table(nuclearplants$pt, em)

# force treated and control units to have different values of `pt`:
z <- nuclearplants$pr
names(z) <- rownames(nuclearplants)
aem <- fullmatch(antiExactMatch(nuclearplants$pt, z), data = nuclearplants)
table(nuclearplants$pt, aem)