CORRELATIONAL ANALYSIS IN COMPARATIVE GERONTOLOGY - AN EXAMINATION OFSOME PROBLEMS

Correlation coefficients are widely used in comparative gerontology. H owever, due to many pitfalls, only a poor knowledge can be gained from these studies in many cases. For instance, a few variables gathered f rom few species may be used, with no attention to possible confounding variables giving spurious correlations. This article describes some o f these problems and proposes to use more thoroughly multivariate anal ysis in comparative gerontology. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science I nc.