spurious correlation

Definitions of spurious correlation
  1. noun
    a correlation between two variables (e.g., between the number of electric motors in the home and grades at school) that does not result from any direct relation between them (buying electric motors will not raise grades) but from their relation to other variables
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    type of:
    correlation, correlational statistics
    a statistical relation between two or more variables such that systematic changes in the value of one variable are accompanied by systematic changes in the other
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