Tell me more ×
Cross Validated is a question and answer site for statisticians, data analysts, data miners and data visualization experts. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 0 down vote favorite

Can a confounding variable be correlated with the DV and not the IV? I have heard of the DV being corr. but I can't find IV in any textbooks. I found this def. in Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confounding

share|improve this question
3  
Does the opening line of the link that you posted not answer your question? – Jake Westfall Oct 30 '12 at 20:39
@Jake possibly, but that's why I came here for additional information. – timothy.s.lau Nov 29 '12 at 15:51

1 Answer

up vote 4 down vote accepted

No.

One way to think of a confounding variable is as something that confuses the issues by making it unclear which of the various explanatory (sometimes confusingly called "independent") variables is actually relating to the response (sometimes, confusingly, called "dependent"). This is only possible if there is correlation between the candidate explanatory variables (or "IV"s). Otherwise there simply is no way that the confounding variable confuses the picture for the other explanatory variables.

share|improve this answer

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.