Linked Questions

13 votes
5 answers
3k views

Does Correlation "Sometimes" Imply Causality? [duplicate]

I am an MBA student taking courses in statistics. I am sure that at some point, we have all heard the famous expression - "Correlation Does Not Imply Causality". When we are being introduced ...
stats_noob's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
525 views

Suppose that $R^2=0$ . Does this imply that Y and X are unrelated? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Under what conditions does correlation imply causation? Can somebody illustrate how there can be dependence and zero covariance? Or could there still be a relationship? Is ...
Jack Martin's user avatar
83 votes
28 answers
393k views

Examples for teaching: Correlation does not mean causation

There is an old saying: "Correlation does not mean causation". When I teach, I tend to use the following standard examples to illustrate this point: number of storks and birth rate in Denmark; number ...
74 votes
6 answers
8k views

Criticism of Pearl's theory of causality

In the year 2000, Judea Pearl published Causality. What controversies surround this work? What are its major criticisms?
Neil G's user avatar
  • 14.7k
62 votes
3 answers
7k views

Statistics and causal inference?

In his 1984 paper "Statistics and Causal Inference", Paul Holland raised one of the most fundamental questions in statistics: What can a statistical model say about causation? This led to his ...
Shane's user avatar
  • 12.2k
39 votes
6 answers
9k views

Under which assumptions a regression can be interpreted causally?

First, don't panic. Yes, there are many similar question on this site. But I believe none gives a conclusive answer to the question below. Please bear with me. Consider a data generation process $\...
luchonacho's user avatar
  • 2,667
22 votes
6 answers
65k views

Does simple linear regression imply causation?

I know correlation does not imply causation but instead the strength and direction of the relationship. Does simple linear regression imply causation? Or is an inferential (t-test, etc.) statistical ...
user4572's user avatar
  • 221
5 votes
2 answers
42k views

Difference between experimental data and observational data?

I'm a novice to data mining and started to read about it. What's the exact difference between experimental data and observation data? Both are obviously data; and many say observation data can lead to ...
Ant's's user avatar
  • 539
12 votes
3 answers
2k views

Regression and causality in econometrics

In regression in general and in linear regression in particular, causal interpretation of parameters is sometimes permitted. At least in econometrics literature, but not only, when causal ...
markowitz's user avatar
  • 4,906
12 votes
2 answers
554 views

Correlation without Causation

I know the famous expression "correlation does not imply causation". In a DAG, this situation might look like $$ X \leftarrow U \rightarrow Y $$ Here even though $X$ and $Y$ are not causally ...
Mir Henglin's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
1k views

Correlation, regression and causal modeling

This is probably a blindingly obvious answer for any seasoned statistician, but I am still confused as to how correlation differs from regression, technically. I understand that one is a measure of ...
user1650757's user avatar
5 votes
3 answers
1k views

Does autocorrelation imply temporal dependence?

It is always said that a time series should be stationary for forecasting using classical methods. While converting a time series to stationary, we detrend and deseasonalize the time series. Does this ...
Sarang Manjrekar's user avatar
1 vote
3 answers
337 views

Determining causality from a natural experiment

Suppose I thought that ingesting greater than 100 mg of chemical X annually noticeably decreased one's weight. Also, I had data (from a "natural" experiment) from 100 people (some male and some female)...
travis's user avatar
  • 11
6 votes
3 answers
751 views

Does correlation correlate with causation?

Correlation does not imply causation, but causation causes correlation. By correlation I do not mean exclusively linear correlation, it could be arbitrarily shaped, as long as it is consistent and ...
MathuSum Mut's user avatar
-1 votes
3 answers
2k views

Does the high coefficient of determination in this graph predict a huge spike in global warming? [closed]

I have had three semesters of college statistics as part of my BSBA degree. From what I recall from regression analysis the graph seems to show a very high coefficient of determination between CO2 and ...
polcott's user avatar
  • 183
2 votes
2 answers
4k views

Comparing two sets of data over time to infer correlation or imply causation

I have two data sets, over a period of time that I would like to compare. I am very unfamiliar with statistics so sorry if this is simple. I need to use SPSS. I am comparing the number of journal ...
Rebecca's user avatar
  • 21
3 votes
2 answers
802 views

Under what conditions does correlation imply proximity to causation?

I've recently had an experience with the whole "correlation does not imply causation", which is certainly true as far as a true/false proposition is concerned, but which also seems to be ...
jxramos's user avatar
  • 213
0 votes
0 answers
1k views

What do r (Pearson correlation coefficient) and R^2 stand for? [duplicate]

As far as I understood, R squared explains how much the variation in Y is explained by its linear association with X. And it's used as an indicator for goodness of fit of a linear model. Then when ...
denis631's user avatar
  • 133
2 votes
3 answers
375 views

Multiple regression for a questionnaire study

Let's say I have a study in which I send a 100 people a questionnaire in which the dependent variable is binary, such as "does x, y and z correlate with whether a person is obese or not obese". Would ...
Paze's user avatar
  • 2,091
2 votes
3 answers
301 views

Shouldn't we take absolute values when + or - sign indicates only direction, not higher or lower values?

What I am trying to do? I want to explore the relationship between Magnetic Field and Blood Pressure in case of diabetic patients. In short, I will create a heavy magnetic field and will collect ...
Md Sabbir Ahmed's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
665 views

Causality of the regression [duplicate]

I have the same results for two regression 1) y= number of board directors in t+1 x= a dummy variable with 1 if there is at least an institutional investor among the shareholders in t. 2) y= a ...
Valentina's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
279 views

Can I use PCA to study how variables affect each other?

I'd like to know what PCA tells me about how the variables affect each other. For example, let's say I've three variables Cholesterol, Exercise, Calorie Intake and Sleep. I want to know how Exercise, ...
Lennart's user avatar
  • 348
4 votes
2 answers
313 views

Why does presence of sample correlation violate independence assumption?

Consider the data from this website. They present the attached graph and state "It is clear that children who get more correct in the D0 condition tend to get more correct in the D60 condition. ...
user106860's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
54 views

Regression: Is it problematic to include a predictor when the outcome variable is based on it?

My question is based on the following discussion we often see when people try to model citation counts for research articles. The outcome variable is citation counts for an article and some typical ...
Jesper Schneider's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
43 views

Infectious Outbreak and the Foundation of Epidemiology

There was an infectious outbreak that was responsible for the foundation of epidemiology, it was the cholera outbreak that affected London between 1846 and 1860, which, in order to be resolved, ...
Lambert macuse's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
37 views

Does any test actually prove causation? [duplicate]

I was once critiqued for using a "wrong" test because the test I chose didn't actually prove causation. I admit that I'm not a statistician. My education is very incomplete. What statistical ...
Bryan's user avatar
  • 1,147