Beware: When research observes two things are related (correlated), it doesn’t mean they cause each other! Sunburns and ice cream sales rise and fall together, but one has no influence over the other.
Did you know that indulging in ice cream can increase your perceived risk of sunburn? While this notion is purely fictional, it’s an interesting observation. If you were to plot a graph illustrating the trends of ice cream consumption against sunburn cases over time, you’d notice a striking similarity between the two. This illustrates a correlation—a situation where two or more variables change in tandem without necessarily affecting one another. In contrast, causation indicates a direct relationship where one variable’s change directly impacts another.
