{"id":658,"date":"2017-04-15T05:37:27","date_gmt":"2017-04-15T05:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/conceptstest1\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=658"},"modified":"2019-06-28T13:01:49","modified_gmt":"2019-06-28T13:01:49","slug":"introduction-association-vs-causation","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-concepts-statistics\/chapter\/introduction-association-vs-causation\/","title":{"raw":"Introduction to Association vs Causation","rendered":"Introduction to Association vs Causation"},"content":{"raw":"<h2>What you'll learn to do: Distinguish between association and causation. Identify lurking variables that may explain an observed relationship.<\/h2>\r\n<img class=\"size-medium wp-image-2010 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1768\/2017\/04\/28130010\/beach-toys-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Sand toys at the beach in the sand.\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/>\r\n\r\nJust because two variables are associated does not mean that one variable causes changes in the other! For example, swimsuit sales and beach toy sales are likely associated (as swimsuit sales go up, one might speculate that beach toy sales will also go up), but it\u2019s not necessarily the case that swimsuit sales cause beach toy sales.\r\n\r\nIn order to establish evidence of causation, a statistical study with rigorous design considerations is needed and the study results should be repeatable. We briefly discuss design considerations and appropriate conclusions that may be drawn.\r\n<h2>Contribute!<\/h2><div style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">Did you have an idea for improving this content? We\u2019d love your input.<\/div><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1TxCZJTrCw7E0NQbHyayyWudYtSIH9AH9ciP0Yd_kOFo\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-weight: 600; color: #077fab; text-decoration: none; border: 2px solid #077fab; border-radius: 7px; padding: 5px 25px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.5em;\">Improve this page<\/a><a style=\"margin-left: 16px;\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1vy-T6DtTF-BbMfpVEI7VP_R7w2A4anzYZLXR8Pk4Fu4\">Learn More<\/a>","rendered":"<h2>What you&#8217;ll learn to do: Distinguish between association and causation. Identify lurking variables that may explain an observed relationship.<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2010 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1768\/2017\/04\/28130010\/beach-toys-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Sand toys at the beach in the sand.\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Just because two variables are associated does not mean that one variable causes changes in the other! For example, swimsuit sales and beach toy sales are likely associated (as swimsuit sales go up, one might speculate that beach toy sales will also go up), but it\u2019s not necessarily the case that swimsuit sales cause beach toy sales.<\/p>\n<p>In order to establish evidence of causation, a statistical study with rigorous design considerations is needed and the study results should be repeatable. We briefly discuss design considerations and appropriate conclusions that may be drawn.<\/p>\n<h2>Contribute!<\/h2>\n<div style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">Did you have an idea for improving this content? We\u2019d love your input.<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1TxCZJTrCw7E0NQbHyayyWudYtSIH9AH9ciP0Yd_kOFo\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-weight: 600; color: #077fab; text-decoration: none; border: 2px solid #077fab; border-radius: 7px; padding: 5px 25px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.5em;\">Improve this page<\/a><a style=\"margin-left: 16px;\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1vy-T6DtTF-BbMfpVEI7VP_R7w2A4anzYZLXR8Pk4Fu4\">Learn More<\/a><\/p>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-658\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Concepts in Statistics. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Open Learning Initiative. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/oli.cmu.edu\">http:\/\/oli.cmu.edu<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":163,"menu_order":13,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Concepts in Statistics\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"Open Learning Initiative\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/oli.cmu.edu\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"465d484a-d81a-4a00-9f26-d684ab10add2","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-658","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":140,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-concepts-statistics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-concepts-statistics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-concepts-statistics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-concepts-statistics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/163"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-concepts-statistics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2011,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-concepts-statistics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/658\/revisions\/2011"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-concepts-statistics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/140"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-concepts-statistics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/658\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-concepts-statistics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-concepts-statistics\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=658"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-concepts-statistics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=658"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-concepts-statistics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}