Answer to Question #283983 in Genetics for Nadiah Zamari

Question

The correlation coefficient is a measure of the strength of association between two traits. Correlation, however, does not indicate causation (interconnection). Think of one or two variables (not necessarily phenotypes) that are correlated and are causally linked, and one or two variables that may be correlated but are not likely to be causally linked.

Answer 1

Correlation coefficients measure the strength of the relationship between two variables. A correlation between variables indicates that as one variable changes in value, the other variable tends to change in a specific direction.

Correlation tests for a relationship between two variables. However, seeing two variables moving together does not necessarily mean we know whether one variable causes the other to occur. This is why we commonly say “correlation does not imply causation.”