Correlation & Causation

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What is correlation?

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Correlation is a statistical measure that describes the extent to which two variables change together. A positive correlation means that as one variable increases, the other also increases, while a negative correlation means that as one variable increases, the other decreases.

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What is causation?

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Causation indicates that one event is the result of the occurrence of another event. It implies a direct cause-and-effect relationship between two variables.

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What does a correlation coefficient of 1 indicate?

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A correlation coefficient of 1 indicates a perfect positive correlation, meaning that as one variable increases, the other variable increases in a perfectly linear manner.

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What does a correlation coefficient of -1 indicate?

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A correlation coefficient of -1 indicates a perfect negative correlation, meaning that as one variable increases, the other variable decreases in a perfectly linear manner.

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What does a correlation coefficient of 0 indicate?

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A correlation coefficient of 0 indicates no correlation between the two variables, meaning that changes in one variable do not predict changes in the other.

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What is the difference between correlation and causation?

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Correlation does not imply causation. Just because two variables are correlated does not mean that one causes the other to change.

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What is a scatterplot?

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A scatterplot is a graphical representation of two variables, where each point represents an observation. It is used to visualize the relationship between the variables.

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What does a strong positive correlation look like on a scatterplot?

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A strong positive correlation on a scatterplot appears as points that are closely clustered around a line that slopes upwards from left to right.

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What does a strong negative correlation look like on a scatterplot?

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A strong negative correlation on a scatterplot appears as points that are closely clustered around a line that slopes downwards from left to right.

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What is an example of causation?

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An example of causation is: 'The car ran out of gas, which caused it to be stranded on the side of the road.'