Confounding

Confounding occurs when effects of variables are somehow mixed so that the individual effect of the variables cannot be identified.

-Biostatistics for the Biological and Health Sciences with Statdisk by Triola (2006).

Example

In this example, Dave planned for a 4 hour hike for a sunny day. On the day of the hike, it rained, adding 2 hours. The rain is the confounding variable.

Related Terms

Experiment

Observational Study