Correlation vs. Causality: What's the Difference?

Correlation and causality can be described as the two most confused terminologies in research. In most cases, an instance of correlation is seen to imply causality and vice versa. However, both terms mean various aspects. For example, causality implies that a particular thing leads to the being of another (Correlation vs. causality, n.d.). Correlation, on the other side, suggests that two particular occurrences or situations tend to come to being or be observed at the same time (Correlation vs. causality, n.d.). From this, it can be seen that the two terms almost mean the same and are at the same time different entirely. For example, it has been a commonly associated and as well medically proven knowledge that smoking cigarettes could result to the development of throat cancer. In this case, there are two variables: smoking cigarettes and the development of throat cancer. What this means is that throat cancer can be highly found in people who smoke cigarettes than those that do not. 

In most cases, this could look like an instance of causality, but it is not. This is a correlation. It just happens that people who smoke cigarettes tend to develop throat cancer. There is a high probability that the smoker developed their habit because of stress or grew up in an environment of smokers. As a result, the causality is the situation that pushed them to cigarette smoking. Throat cancer comes just as an accomplice of the smoking habit. Correlation is ultimately seen in that people who do not smoke have very little or close to the possibility of developing throat cancer. It is just it that non-smokers do not develop throat cancer. Their failure to take cigarettes could be as a result of having morally strong backgrounds and not being exposed to the habit at tender ages. 

References 

“ Correlation vs. causality.” (n.d.). Khan Academy . Retrieved 29 th June 2017 from https://www.khanacademy.org/math/probability/regression/regression-correlation/v/correlation-and-causality.