Meet Florine Mark As President and Chairman of the Board of The WW Group, Inc., Florine Mark uses her influence, energy and resources to improve the lives of others. read more > eTools
This is termed non-spuriousness, which simply means ânot false.â A spurious or false relationship exists when what appears to be an association between the two variables is actually caused by a third extraneous variable.
Spurious relationships are false indications of causality. They occur when theory omits an extraneous variable that affects two other variables that have no causal connection. The effects of the extraneous variable on the two other variables leads one to conclude, in error, that the two other variables are causally linked. This silly example illustrates a spurious relationship. City Manager Sapp, of Sappville, has collected data on the past 100 fires to occur in the city.