Confounding Variable

- Mohit Vikram Hardikar

SYBSc Economics, MIT-WPU Pune
According to Wikipedia -
• In statistics, a confounder is a variable that influences both
the dependent variable and independent variable, causing a spurious
association. Confounding is a causal concept, and as such, cannot be
described in terms of correlations or associations
• A confounding variable is an “extra” variable that a researcher didn’t
account for. They can ruin an experiment and give you useless results.
They can suggest there is correlation when in fact there isn’t
For a variable to be a confounding variable, it should
meet three conditions:

1. The factor must be associated with the exposure being

investigated
2. Must be independently associated with the outcome being
investigated
3. Not be in the causal pathway between exposure and outcome.
EXPOSURE OUTCOME
(Truck Driving) (Lung Cancer)

CONFOUNDER
(Smoking)
• We test 200 volunteers (100 men and 100 women).
•

• You find that lack of exercise leads to weight gain.

• Nothing was mentioned about starting weight, occupation or age either.

• A poor study design like this could lead to bias. For example, if all of the women in
the study were middle-aged, and all of the men were aged 16, age would have a
direct effect on weight gain. That makes age a confounding variable.
• Bias can be eliminated with random samples.
• Introduce control variables to control for confounding variables
• Within subjects designs test the same subjects each time..
• Counterbalancing can be used if you have paired designs. In
counterbalancing, half of the group is measured under condition 1
and half is measured under condition 2.
• . The main problem with our experiment was that is lack of
any control variables.
• Solutions :
• The use of placebos
• Random assignment to groups
• Only measure people above a certain age or caloric intake