For each of 200 randomly selected cities, Pete recorded the number of churches i

Question

For each of 200 randomly selected cities, Pete recorded the number of churches in the city (x) and the number of homicides in the past decade (y). He calculated the linear correlation coefficient and was surprised to find a strong positive linear correlation for the two variables. Does this suggest that building new churches causes an increase in the number of homicides? Why do you think that a strong positive linear correlation coefficient was obtained? Explain your answer with reference to the term lurking variable

Explanation / Answer

For the given problem, homicide rate might get affect by many variable which is not observerd and measured, those variable called lurking variable. Researcher should understand the study and nature of variable. In this context, churches is not only a direct cause for the homicides. In another word, if we have proper knowledge on cause and effect variable, it is possible to conduct the correlation coefficient and can be interpreted. But in this problem, though the coefficient of correlation shows a strong positive linear relationship, it is called nonsense or spurious correlation. Only the correlation coefficient do not say the cause and effect relationship. So it is difficult to interpret as strong positive correlation coefficient indicate for cause and effect of the variable.

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