Discussion: Causation and Correlation
Statistical tools can provide practical ways to interpret the world around us. With practice, even a very basic understanding of statistical concepts can be applied very quickly to draw useful connections between variables.

Consider the variable pair of employee engagement and employee performance. Assume for this discussion that the correlation between these variables is .67 where 1.0 is a perfect correlation. Then address the Following: 

Post a cohesive and scholarly response, based on and supported by your required readings, media, and research this week, that addresses the following:

Define the concepts of causation and correlation.
Explain why the variable pair may correlate and have a causal relationship. Also, explain why they may not have a causal relationship.
How might you investigate whether there is a causal relationship between engagement and performance? 

Learning Resources
Required Readings
Note: It is highly recommended that you review the resources in the following order.

Pease, G., Byerly, B. & Fitz-enz, J. (2012). Human capital analytics: How to handle the potential of your organization’s greatest asset. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Chapters 5, “What Dashboards Are Telling You: Descriptive Statistics and Correlations” (pp. 101–116)
Chapters 6, “Causation: What Really Drives Performance” (pp. 117–131)
Appendix A: “Different Levels to Describe Measurement” (pp. 171–180) 
Appendix C: “Details of Basic Descriptive Statistics” (pp. 193–198)
Required Media
Walden University (Producer). (2019e). Dr. Analytics: Several statistics concepts [Video file]. Minneapolis, MN: Author. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu 


Accessible player 
AIHR Analytics. (n.d.). 14 HR metrics examples. Retrieved January 2, 2020, from https://www.analyticsinhr.com/blog/14-hr-metrics-examples/

TEDx. (2012, November 5). Ionica Smeets: The danger of mixing up causality and correlation [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B271L3NtAw