Confounders and latent variables in biology research
What differentiates experiments and simple observations in the scientific world? One of the most important aspects to consider is confounding. Most observations we see around us are prone to being affected by many other variables, both those we see and those we don’t see. Those we see and measure are called covariates, which we frequently use to create models (independent variables), but these variables can also alter the results, which may introduce bias into the models. Frequently, we can’t observe or measure all the variables that may affect the data we collect; these variables are called latent variables. Covariates and latent variables that may affect the data we collect and influence the results meaningfully are called confounders. Have a look at the following figure:
Figure 15.12 – Confounders
In this diagram, you can see an example of how biological causes may be affected...
