Question

Lisa is not sure if m causes n, n causes m, or neither. In an attempt to come to a conclusion, she first plotted m on the x-axis, n on the y-axis, and used the linear regression feature of her graphing calculator. When she did this, she got a correlation coefficient (r) of 0.962 and a line with a slope of 2.3. She then plotted n on the x-axis, m on the y-axis, and used the linear regression feature of her graphing calculator. When she did this, she got a correlation coefficient (r) of 0.962 and a line with a slope of 0.4. Which conclusion is the most valid?

Answer 1

A. M causes n
B. N causes m
C. M might cause n, or n might cause m.
D. M doesn't cause n, and n doesn't cause m.
These are the answer choices