/*! This file is auto-generated */ .wp-block-button__link{color:#fff;background-color:#32373c;border-radius:9999px;box-shadow:none;text-decoration:none;padding:calc(.667em + 2px) calc(1.333em + 2px);font-size:1.125em}.wp-block-file__button{background:#32373c;color:#fff;text-decoration:none} Problem 4 The article "That's Rich: More Y... [FREE SOLUTION] | 91Ó°ÊÓ

91Ó°ÊÓ

The article "That's Rich: More You Drink, More You Earn" (Calgary Herald, April 16,2002 ) reported that there was a positive correlation between alcohol consumption and income. Is it reasonable to conclude that increasing alcohol consumption will increase income? Give at least two reasons or examples to support your answer.

Short Answer

Expert verified
No, it is not reasonable to conclude that increasing alcohol consumption will increase income. Correlation does not imply causation. The correlation could be due to lurking variables. For instance, professionals earning higher might have more social gatherings involving alcohol. This does not mean drinking caused their higher income. Additionally, increasing alcohol consumption in a low wage job will not automatically result in an income rise, illustrating that drinking more doesn't directly cause increased income.

Step by step solution

01

Understand Correlation Does Not Imply Causation

Correlation and causation are different things. A correlation simply means that a relationship exists between two factors, but it does not indicate that one factor is the cause of the other. The fact that alcohol consumption and income concur does not imply that drinking more alcohol actually causes an increase in income. It could be that other factors are at play, which result in higher income earners consuming more alcohol.
02

Discuss Possible lurking/confounding variables

There might be lurking or confounding variables that make it seem like there's a direct relationship between alcohol consumption and income. For example, it could be that people with high income have more leisure time or tend to socialize more, and these occasions involve alcohol consumption. So, the increased alcohol consumption is a result of having a higher income, not the cause of it.
03

Provide Examples

You can think of examples to further illustrate this point. For instance, a person working in low wage job who begins to consume more alcohol does not mean his salary will automatically increase. Similarly, a well-earning professional may decide to stop drinking alcohol, but this won't necessarily cause a decrease in their income. These examples ensure their understanding of why increased alcohol consumption does not directly lead to increased income.

Unlock Step-by-Step Solutions & Ace Your Exams!

  • Full Textbook Solutions

    Get detailed explanations and key concepts

  • Unlimited Al creation

    Al flashcards, explanations, exams and more...

  • Ads-free access

    To over 500 millions flashcards

  • Money-back guarantee

    We refund you if you fail your exam.

Over 30 million students worldwide already upgrade their learning with 91Ó°ÊÓ!

One App. One Place for Learning.

All the tools & learning materials you need for study success - in one app.

Get started for free

Most popular questions from this chapter

An auction house released a list of 25 recently sold paintings. Eight artists were represented in these sales. The sale price of each painting appears on the list. Would the correlation coefficient be an appropriate way to summarize the relationship between artist \((x)\) and sale price (y)? Why or why not?

A sample of 548 ethnically diverse students from Massachusetts were followed over a 19 -month period from 1995 and 1997 in a study of the relationship between TV viewing and eating habits (Pediatrics [2003]: 1321- 1326). For each additional hour of television viewed per day, the number of fruit and vegetable servings per day was found to decrease on average by \(0.14\) serving. a. For this study, what is the dependent variable? What is the predictor variable? b. Would the least-squares line for predicting number of servings of fruits and vegetables using number of hours spent watching TV as a predictor have a positive or negative slope? Explain.

The article "Cost-Effectiveness in Public Education" (Chance [1995]: \(38-41\) ) reported that for a regression of \(y=\) average SAT score on \(x=\) expenditure per pupil, based on data from \(n=44\) New Jersey school districts, \(a=766, b=0.015, r^{2}=.160\), and \(s_{e}=53.7\) a. One observation in the sample was \((9900,893)\). What average SAT score would you predict for this district, and what is the corresponding residual? b. Interpret the value of \(s_{e}\). c. How effectively do you think the least-squares line summarizes the relationship between \(x\) and \(y ?\) Explain your reasoning.

Explain why it can be dangerous to use the leastsquares line to obtain predictions for \(x\) values that are substantially larger or smaller than those contained in the sample.

'The article "Reduction in Soluble Protein and Chlorophyll Contents in a Few Plants as Indicators of Automobile Exhaust Pollution" (International Journal of Environmental Studies [1983]: \(239-244\) ) reported the following data on \(x=\) distance from a highway (in meters) and \(y=\) lead content of soil at that distance (in parts per million): a. Use a statistical computer package to construct scatterplots of \(y\) versus \(x, y\) versus \(\log (x), \log (y)\) versus \(\log (x)\) and \(\frac{1}{y}\) versus \(\frac{1}{x}\). b. Which transformation considered in Part (a) does the best job of producing an approximately linear relationship? Use the selected transformation to predict lead content when distance is \(25 \mathrm{~m}\).

See all solutions

Recommended explanations on Math Textbooks

View all explanations

What do you think about this solution?

We value your feedback to improve our textbook solutions.

Study anywhere. Anytime. Across all devices.