A school district found that the number of absences in a school increased with the decrease in temperatures. When a correlation coefficient between absences and temperatures was calculated, it was shown to be negative - one increases when the other decreases.

Answer: Because the increase in absenteeism occurred around the same time the temperature decreased, the school drew the conclusion that it was because the temperature dropped. But that may not be the case. It is possible that the drop in temperature can cause people to get sick and thus stay home from work or school. It is true that when the temperature gets colder, our bodies tend to have less resistance to infections, this, according to the UK Health Security Agency, thus more people can get sick. But this still does not mean that the drop in temperature was the cause of the increased absenteeism. To be able to prove causation in any case several studies should be carried out to establish the facts and if indeed these facts may or may not have caused the one thing to react to the other. So, before we draw conclusions, we must have more than one source to compare the data we are analyzing to. Therefore, it is important to understand the implications of negative correlation and to keep in mind that correlation is not causation, making decisions without getting accurate information may lead to undesired outcomes. Very often the correlation between data can be pure coincidence.

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