What is the explanatory and response variable for the following statement? Is there correlation between Gun homicide and Gun ownership in the USA?

Question

Anything could help, thank you :)

Answer 1

Most people would want to test whether gun ownership causes gun homicides, so gun ownership is the explanatory variable and gun homicide is he response variable. If that's significant, that's the argument for gun control or banning guns.

But some people might want to test whether the gun homicide rate causes potential victims of homicide to buy guns to protect themselves. then the explanatory and response variables are reversed. If that's significant, it may be an argument to make it easier to purchase guns.

This same thing came up in the original cigarette research. The Fisher Pearson methodology was used to argue that cancer caused people to smoke. Others using Bayesian statistics argued smoking tobacco caused cancer. Either way, they were clearly correlated.

While the variables are described as explanatory or independent, which causes the response or dependent variable, it's often the case that the causality can work in both directions or neither. Statistics alone generally does not even show causation, just correlation. It may be a spurious correlation with no causation either way, or the result of a third causal factor.