Title: Control
Course: UGQuants (SSPS) > Section: Multiple Regression

Control

Examining the relationship between two variables while controlling for the effect of a third variable is important for knowing whether any observed relationship between an independent variable and dependent variable might be affected by other independent variables.  The technique cannot tell us which other variables to consider, since this depends on us having a good understanding of the theory and knowledge derived from existing empirical findings.  However, we can test what we believe might be important conditioning variables (i.e. those variables which change the nature of the relationship), either in terms of offering additional explanation or changing the nature of the explanation of our initial independent variable.  For this reason control is crucial if we are to see whether we can develop a causal model of relationships between variables rather than simply observing associations (correlations).