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Question 1

the “third variable problem”?

Answer 1

A type of confounding in which a third variable leads to a mistaken causal relationship between two others. For instance, cities with a greater number of churches have a higher crime rate.

Question 2

correlation vs causation

Answer 2

While causation “Indicates that one event is the result of the occurrence of the other event; i.e. there is a causal relationship between the two events. … The classic causation vs correlation example that is frequently used is that smoking is correlated with alcoholism, but doesn’t cause alcoholism.

Question 3

confounding variable?

Answer 3

In statistics, a confounder (also confounding variable, confounding factor or lurking variable) is a variable that influences both the dependent variable and independent variable causing a spurious association. Confounding is a causal concept, and as such, cannot be described in terms of correlations or associations.