An observational study is an empiric investigation of the effects caused by a treatment, policy, or intervention in which it is not possible to assign subjects at random to treatment or control, as would be done in a controlled experiment. Observational studies are common in most fields that study the effects of treatments on people.The second edition of Observational Studies is about 50 per cent longer than the first edition, with many new examples and methods. There are new chapters on nonadditive models for treatment effects (5) and planning observational studies , and the chapter on coherence (9) has been extensively rewritten.Paul R. Rosenbaum is Robert G. Putzel Professor, Department of Statistics, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a fellow of the American Statistical Association.