Question

The correlation coefficient for poor health and not exercising in a group of people is 0.67. Analyze the following statement.

Poor health is caused by not exercising.

Is this a reasonable conclusion?

A. Yes; everyone who doesn't exercise is by definition unhealthy

B. Yes; the correlation coefficient is above 0.5, so that implies causation

C. No; the data are only weakly correlated, and many people are healthy who don't exercise

D. No; poor health and not exercising are completely unrelated

Answer 1

Correlation between variables does NOT mean that one \(\bf causes\) the other. So we can throw out any answer that supports the conclusion of \(causation\). There is some correlation between the two sets, so they are correlated. Any non-zero number shows correlation. The question is to degree of correlation and the number of samples you have also determines how much you should trust this number, but we can assume that enough samples were taken to believe the correlation. Whether the correlation is "weak" or not is subjective and should be something that is stated before the question is asked to remove subjectivity as much as possible.

Answer 2

Its c?

Answer 3

i think No; the data are only weakly correlated, and many C. people are healthy who don't exercise

Answer 4

I agree