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Causality and experiments –

The study of whether one thing causes another to happen, often explored through controlled tests. Statisticians use experiments to prove causality.

Observational study –

A study where researchers watch and collect data without interfering or assigning treatments.

Experiment –

A study where researchers actively apply treatments to subjects to test for cause-and-effect relationships.

Treatment

The specific condition, action, or intervention given to some subjects in an experiment.

Outcome –

The result or measurement that researchers record to see the effect of a treatment.

Observational unit (subject) –

The individual person, object, or case on which data are collected.

Association –

A relationship or link between two variables, without necessarily implying one causes the other.

Causality –

A relationship where a change in one factor directly produces a change in another.

Treatment group –

The group of subjects in an experiment that receives the treatment being studied.

Control group –

The group of subjects in an experiment that does not receive the treatment, used for comparison.

Confounding –

When another factor (a “lurking variable”) mixes into a study and makes it hard to tell what is actually causing the observed outcome.

Randomization –

Assigning subjects to groups by chance, to reduce bias and balance out confounding factors.

Randomized controlled trial (RCT) or experiment –

An experiment in which participants are randomly assigned to treatment and control groups, considered the “gold standard” for testing causality.

Blind –

When subjects (and sometimes researchers) do not know which group (treatment or control) the subject is in, to prevent bias.

Placebo –

A fake treatment with no real effect, used to compare against the real treatment in experiments