In statistics, a spurious relationship (or, sometimes, spurious correlation or spurious regression) is a mathematical relationship in which two events or variables have no direct causal connection, yet it may be wrongly inferred that they do, due to either coincidence or the presence of a certain third, unseen factor (referred to as a "confounding factor" or "lurking variable"). Suppose there is found to be a correlation between A and B. Aside from coincidence, there are three possible relationships:
- A causes B,
- B causes A,
- OR
- C causes both A and B.
In the last case there is a spurious correlation between A and B. In a regression model where A is regressed on B but C is actually the true causal factor for A, this misleading choice of independent variable (B instead of C) is called specification error.
Because correlation can arise from the presence of a lurking variable rather than from direct causation, it is often said that "Correlation does not imply causation".
Read more about Spurious Relationship: General Example, Detecting Spurious Relationships
Other articles related to "spurious relationship, relationships, spurious, relationship":
... as economics usually employ pre-existing data rather than experimental data to establish causal relationships and to determine that they are not spurious ... Typically a linear relationship such as is postulated, in which is the dependent variable (hypothesized to be the caused variable), for j=1...k is the jth ... in the regression, so that effect will not be picked up as a spurious effect of the potentially causative variable of interest ...
Famous quotes containing the words relationship and/or spurious:
“Friendship is by its very nature freer of deceit than any other relationship we can know because it is the bond least affected by striving for power, physical pleasure, or material profit, most liberated from any oath of duty or of constancy.”
—Francine Du Plesssix Gray (20th century)
“A happy people I call them still, whose peace and genuine morals have not been contaminated with European vices; and whose errors are only the errors of ignorance, and not the rooted depravity of a pretended civilization, and a spurious and mock Christianity.”
—J.G. (John Gabriel)