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Ugh. Can we just stop using the word 'connection' altogether when what we really mean is 'an indeterminate and quite possibly coincidental correlation has been
by bobwaycott 11y ago
Ugh. Can we just stop using the word 'connection' altogether when what we really mean is 'an indeterminate and quite possibly coincidental correlation has been found between X and Y'?
A 'connection', to me at least, implies causality. No causal relationship has been found here.
- matt4077 11y agoUgh. Can we just stop feeling like Gods of Statistics because we've read "Correlation doesn't proof causation" once?
- bobwaycott 11y agoPerhaps you should proofread your snark before posting, friend. I never feel like a god of statistics. My complaint here wasn't even about statistics. It's not even a specialty of mine. Note my complaint was about words. The meaning and usage of words, particularly the impressions and messages they convey to people--the ideas, beliefs, as well as the certainties they establish and invoke when spoken, written, heard, and read--on the other hand, most certainly is something I care very much about. There are many areas outside a probabilistically determined statistical model in which properly understanding, specifying, and communicating correlation and causality are useful and important.