  We examine the role of textual data as study units when conducting causal
inference by drawing parallels between human subjects and organized texts. %in
human population research. We elaborate on key causal concepts and principles,
and expose some ambiguity and sometimes fallacies. To facilitate better framing
a causal query, we discuss two strategies: (i) shifting from immutable traits
to perceptions of them, and (ii) shifting from some abstract concept/property
to its constituent parts, i.e., adopting a constructivist perspective of an
abstract concept. We hope this article would raise the awareness of the
importance of articulating and clarifying fundamental concepts before delving
into developing methodologies when drawing causal inference using textual data.
