This article is about differences between correlation, causation and coincidence.
What is correlation?
Correlation is the connection between two or more events, facts, numbers, values, observations, etc. It can be positive, negative or there might be no correlation. Correlation is when two or more events are connected with one another, but one event has not necessarily caused the occurrence of another event.
Simply, as something happened, it does not mean that something else caused it. The act is not producing the effect.
For example, correlation happens when younger managers have more hair on their heads, and older managers have less hair on their heads.
TIP: Correlation only shows that there is a relationship between two phenomena. It does not explain why such a relationship might exist in the first place.
What is causation?
Causation is the process of causing something such as an event, fact, number, value, observation, etc. to happen or exist. Or, the relationship between manager’s decisions and results of those actions. Causation is when the occurrence of one event has caused the occurrence of another event.
Simply, something happened later because something else had happened earlier. The act is producing the effect.
For example, causation happens when higher expenditure on staff language courses has improved customer satisfaction when dealing with international clients.
What is coincidence?
Coincidence is the occasion when two or more events, facts, numbers, values, observations, etc. happen at the same time in a way that is surprising or unlikely. These events are not connected with one another, neither one of the events has caused the other event to happen or exist.
Simply, something just happened at the same time as something else.
For example, coincidence happens when Apple’s CEO Tim Cook and Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg bump into each other in one of the Starbucks’ coffee shops in Palo Alto, California.
All these three terms correlation, causation and coincidence, while having similar pronunciation, they have completely different meanings and cannot be used interchangeably.
