What are some examples of correlations that can be misleading?

Examples of Spurious Correlation in the Media

• Universal health care breeds terrorists (Fox News). An on screen headline on Fox News read “National healthcare: breeding ground for terror?”.
• Living Next to Freeways Causes Autism (L.A. Times).
• Junk food does not cause obesity.

What is suspicious correlation?

Spurious correlation, or spuriousness, occurs when two factors appear casually related to one another but are not. The appearance of a causal relationship is often due to similar movement on a chart that turns out to be coincidental or caused by a third “confounding” factor.

What is an example of a spurious correlation?

Another example of a spurious relationship can be seen by examining a city’s ice cream sales. The sales might be highest when the rate of drownings in city swimming pools is highest. To allege that ice cream sales cause drowning, or vice versa, would be to imply a spurious relationship between the two.

What are two things that correlate?

Positive Correlation Examples in Real Life

• The more time you spend running on a treadmill, the more calories you will burn.
• Taller people have larger shoe sizes and shorter people have smaller shoe sizes.
• The longer your hair grows, the more shampoo you will need.

Do spurious correlations show cause and effect?

Spurious correlations can occur in statistics when two or more variables appear to have a cause-and-effect relationship with one another. However, these types of correlations rarely have a true causal relationship, even though they appear to.

What is your favorite example of a correlation relationship that was mistaken for causation?

The classic example of correlation not equaling causation can be found with ice cream and — murder. That is, the rates of violent crime and murder have been known to jump when ice cream sales do. But, presumably, buying ice cream doesn’t turn you into a killer (unless they’re out of your favorite kind?).

What is correlation in statistics?

Correlation is a statistical measure that expresses the extent to which two variables are linearly related (meaning they change together at a constant rate). It’s a common tool for describing simple relationships without making a statement about cause and effect.

Is a weak correlation?

As a rule of thumb, a correlation coefficient between 0.25 and 0.5 is considered to be a “weak” correlation between two variables.

What is “spurious correlations?

My professor pulled up the website “Spurious Correlations,” a website created by Harvard grad student Tyler Vigen, dedicated to finding bizarre, strongly correlated variables that are pretty much entirely unrelated outside of the statistical world.

What is a close correlation chart?

Charts that show a close correlation are often relying on a visual parlor trick to imply a relationship.

Does correlation imply causation?

Analytical sleight of hand can mislead managers. We all know the truism “Correlation doesn’t imply causation,” but when we see lines sloping together, bars rising together, or points on a scatterplot clustering, the data practically begs us to assign a reason. We want to believe one exists.

Why do we plot unrelated data sets together?

Plotting unrelated data sets together can make it seem that changes in one variable are causing changes in the other. We try to create a narrative— If Pandora loses less money, then more music is copyrighted—from what is probably a coincidence.