Question

Discuss why correlation does not necessarily means causality. After performing some research using JSU library and other online resources, identify some pertinent variables that may be highly correlated, and then discuss using actual data citations and references about their causality or lack of it. Under what circumstances correlation leads to causality? Your response should be comprehensive using up-to-date information and scholarly references.

Answer 1

Correlation does not necessarily means casuality because it may so happen that two variables may be correlated but it is not necessary that one variable causes the other.For example: in various epidemiological studies, it has been observed that women who undergo hormone replacement theory (HRT)possess a below average incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) which makes doctors propose that HRT is protective against CHD.However,clinical trials that involves randomised controlled trials showed that HRT caused a very small but statistically significant rise in causing risk of CHD.

Correlation can lead to casuality when we can control or set a value for one of the correlated variables when the two variables show correlation.For example: In certain observational studies ,it has been found that acupuncture is correlated with cure of cancer.At the same time, it is also observed in a randomized and controlled experiment that acupuncture is the cause of cancer cure and is not just merely correlated to cancer cure.

Scholary references:

https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3WknFiJnKLwHCnL72vedxjQkDDP1mXWo6uco/wiki/Correlation_does_not_imply_causation.html.

http://www.vocativ.com/335705/correlation-causation/index.html