
When we say there's a relationship between two variables... how do we interpret that?
- What precisely do we mean?
- What do we want to do with this information?

&lt;img src="08-Distinguishing-Goals_files/figure-html/unnamed-chunk-2-1.png" width="80%" style="display: block; margin: auto;" /&gt;



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# Distinguishing goals of data analysis

When we analyze data, we always have one of three ultimate goals:

1. .hi-turquoise[**Description:**] Simply characterize observed patterns in the data.
2. .hi[**Cau