Module 11 Checkpoint: Correlation, Confounding, and Causation
Scenario
Ice cream sales and swimming-pool accidents rise and fall together across the year, with a correlation of 0.81.
Questions
- Name the variable that plausibly explains both.
- What would happen to the correlation if you compared only days with the same temperature?
- Is the correlation useful for anything? Say what.
- Give one everyday example where a strong correlation was treated as a cause.
- Write the sentence you would use to describe the relationship honestly.
Pass Standard
You pass when you can name a confounder, explain what adjusting for it would do, and still say what the correlation is good for.