Question

One of the major misconceptions about correlation is that a relationship between two variables means causation; that is, one variable causes changes in the other variable. There is a particular tendency to make this causal error when the two variables seem to be related to each other.

What is one instance where you have seen correlation misinterpreted as causation? Please describe.

Answer 1

Yes, there is a major misconceptions about correlation is that a relationship between two variables means causation.

Correlation means that two variables are related to each other or there is a relationship between two variable whereas causation means that change in one variable resulted in change in other variable, i.e. relationship with automatic change.

One instance that I remember was the correlation between number of crimes in USA and number of admissions in college. There was a positive correlation between the two variables because number of crimes as well as number of admissions were increased in recent years, but this does mean that the number of crimes was increased due to increased number of admission in colleges. In this case, causation is only possible when the number of crimes is increased due to increase in number of admissions in college. So, this is just correlation between the two variables.

Concept of causation and correlation must be very clear before applying in such instances because one can think causation between number of crimes in USA and number of admissions in college, but there was no causation between two variables.