1. Answer the following critical thinking questions in this forum. Feel free to copy the questions and paste into your reply so that you cover each one. Use complete sentences and proper statistical terminology in all posts.
2. Read the instructors response to the questions.
3. Read the answers of some of your peers and reply to your post with any corrections.
Questions:
1. Give an example of variables that have correlation but no causation exists. Why do you believe this occurred? Consider whether there is another variable (called a lurking variable) that might have caused this to happen. If not - do you think this correlation exists because of p-hacking? Why/Why not. [1 sentence or a graph for the correlation, 2-3 sentences for your explanation]
a. You may NOT use the ice cream/crime example AND you may not copy information verbatim from websites. You may look at
https://stats.stackexchange.com/questions/36/examples-for-teaching-correlation-does-not-mean-causation
for examples but you need to (at a minimum) put what you find in your own words and explain what the true cause of the relationship is. In the ice cream/crime example it was found that in a particular city that when ice cream consumption went up so did petty crime (stealing/larceny). The true cause was that it was summer and it was hot (and kids didn't have school to keep them busy).
2. How do we decide if the correlation coefficient is close enough to ±±1 to declare that there is correlation? You may need to research the correlations that indicate, none, moderate or strong [1-2 sentences]
3. What is the problem with using a regression equation to predict what will happen in the distant future? [2 sentences]