Spurious Correlations: I was going to post a question about where to find this and then I thought of another search term. This is funny, but also kind of sad because some people...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I was going to post a question about where to find this and then I thought of another search term. This is funny, but also kind of sad because some people believe ridiculous "proof" like this. For example, the more money we spend on space exploration, the more people commit suicide.

http://www.tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations

melismus Loc: Chesapeake Bay Country

The fallacy iis so old that the Ancient Romans had a phrase for it: "After this, therefore because of this." (post hoc, ergo propter hoc) I guess we will never learn.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

melismus wrote:

The fallacy iis so old that the Ancient Romans had a phrase for it: "After this, therefore because of this." (post hoc, ergo propter hoc) I guess we will never learn.

foodie65

jerryc41 wrote:

I was going to post a question about where to find this and then I thought of another search term. This is funny, but also kind of sad because some people believe ridiculous "proof" like this. For example, the more money we spend on space exploration, the more people commit suicide.

http://www.tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations

I imagine all the research that goes into those charts are funded by our government??

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

jerryc41 wrote:

I was going to post a question about where to find this and then I thought of another search term. This is funny, but also kind of sad because some people believe ridiculous "proof" like this. For example, the more money we spend on space exploration, the more people commit suicide.

http://www.tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations

It is seeing a Correlation with out finding, showing, or proving Cause and Effect. It is what scientists try to avoid doing.

An example: I see nothing in a bottle with a vacuum in it, therefore another clear bottle with oxygen in it also likely contains nothing. Wrong of course.

cdayton

foodie65 wrote:

I imagine all the research that goes into those charts are funded by our government??

Actually, the CIA maintains The World Factbook with wonderful stats across countries. If the government didn't collect data, who would? You prefer to live in ignorance? By the way, I loved these charts during my 45 years of teaching statistics. For a different way to be misled by coincidental data, check out the topic "regression toward the mean."

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

cdayton wrote:

...check out the topic "regression toward the mean."

https://www.google.com/search?q=regression+toward+the+mean&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS716US717&oq=regression+toward+the+mean&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.647j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

cdayton

jerryc41 wrote:

https://www.google.com/search?q=regression+toward+the+mean&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS716US717&oq=regression+toward+the+mean&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.647j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Regression toward the mean can lead to misleading interpretations. In my early years, I met with some educators who were "proving" the effectiveness of their instruction by selecting underachieving students, doing their magic and retesting the children. And, wow, the kids' scores went up.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

cdayton wrote:

Regression toward the mean can lead to misleading interpretations. In my early years, I met with some educators who were "proving" the effectiveness of their instruction by selecting underachieving students, doing their magic and retesting the children. And, wow, the kids' scores went up.

fourlocks Loc: Londonderry, NH

We could have a lot of fun trying to guess the cause & effect relationship for each. For example, I'm pretty sure eating cheese before bedtime makes one toss and turn thus increasing the likelihood of strangulation by twisted bedsheets. And as for the correlation between Japanese car sales and increased suicide by auto crashes I would ask if the suicide victims were driving the Japanese car at the time? Oh yeah, and after watching Nicholas Cage in "Leaving Las Vegas" I was so depressed I considered suicide, too!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

fourlocks wrote:

We could have a lot of fun trying to guess the cau... (show quote)

EdJ0307 Loc: out west someplace

We have to disband NASA. And I knew there was a reason I didn't care much for Nicholas Cage.

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

lies,damn lies and statistics.....! it is all in the choosing.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

It happens all of the time. Folks just don't think clearly and aren't taught to reason anymore. It's not just this fallacy, it's all of the other ones too.

For proof, go to the Attic and read.

CA_CanonUser Loc: Friendswood, TX

There may be high correlation in all these cases, but certainly no causation exists, making the correlation nothing but an interesting observation. I believe there was almost a perfect correlation between the first fifteen or so super bowl victors and the stock market direction in those years. If the winning team was from the original NFL, the market would go up; if the AFL team won, the market would go down. Worked for quite a while, but I suspect that is no longer the case. I believe that the study of meaningless correlations is referred to as econometrics.