Read the short article Social Support Network may add to Lon

Read the short article \"Social Support Network may add to Longevity\" found under the assignments tab. Write down a statement from the article that contains the correlation. Now rewrite that statement such that it is a causal statement. See the powerpoint slides for examples. The article is upfront about the difficulties in establishing causality. Name and discuss a possible omitted variable that biases the observed relationship between having friends and life expectancy (i.e. provide an argument that the relationship is not causal). Be sure to include a labeled boxes and arrows diagram (like the one I presented in class).

Solution

Causation and Correlation are loosely used words in analytics. People tend to use these words interchangeably without knowing the fundamental logic behind them. Apparently, people get trapped in the phonetics of these words and end up using them at incorrect places. But, let me warn you that apart from the similar sounding names, there isn’t a lot common in the two phenomena. Their fundamental implications are very different.

Social support network may lead to longevity.

It is a hypothesis. Now we need ot test whether social support network actually leads to longevity. If hypothesis is proved then it is causation.