Thought 27: Correlation Vs Causation 📊
How are correlation and causation different?
This project was all about surveys. Surveys are important ways to get data to help us understand things. The survey questions I chose, will NOT help you understand things.
We were challenged with surveying the class, and find correlations and causations in our results. Then, we would deliver a keynote presentation to the class, informing them of our results.
I worked with Xander this project. We came up with 8 questions, but they were terrible so we replaced them with 10 less bad questions. We made our survey using Google Forms because it is easy to use. We sent out our survey through Learner Central, giving every PLP student the ability to answer our survey. Out of the 140+ PLP students, we got 14 answers. We compiled our answers in Numbers and used the data we got to make graphs.
We found correlations in two graphs: 1 compared the excitement level for Shrek 5 to how often PLP students visit movie theatres. The other graph compared how well liked Froot Loops cereal is, to how often PLP students wear colourful clothes. We found more of a causation in the first graph
Curricular Competencies
The first competency for this project is Planning and conducting. This competency is about using proper equipment to correctly collect and record data. We achieved this in our survey, as our questions were clear, we used the proper software to make the survey and our questions had little bias.
The second competency is Communicating and Representing. This competency is about using mathematical vocabulary to contribute to mathematical discussions. We used this competency in our presentation when we had to explain the causation between Shrek 5 excitement and movie theatre visits.
The last competency is Applying and Innovating. For this project, that meant following good ethics while conducting our surveys. We achieved this in our survey because none of our questions involved any sensitive topics people might not feel comfortable asking.