Exam 1

1. Metainformation

   Tag	Value
   file	Descriptive-statistics_vufsw-correlations-1030-en_vufsw-correlations-1030-en
   name	vufsw-correlations-1030-en
   section	inferential statistics/parametric techniques/correlations
   type	schoice
   solution	TRUE, FALSE, FALSE, FALSE
   Type	test choice
   Program	NA
   Language	English
   Level	statistical reasoning

   Question

   Imagine we found a strong positive correlation between the number of policemen and the crime rate in the same area. We might hypothesize that this relationship is explained by the population size of this area. What type of research design describes this best?

   
   
   1. TRUE: Spurious correlation with the crime rate as the dependent variable, population size as a spurious variable and the number of policemen as the independent variable
   2. FALSE: Mediation with the crime rate as the dependent variable, population size as a spurious variable and the number of policemen as the independent variable
   3. FALSE: Mediation with the number of policemen as the dependent variable, population size as a spurious variable and  crime rate  as the independent variable
   4. FALSE: Spurious correlation with the number of policemen as the dependent variable, population size as a spurious variable and  crime rate  as the independent variable
   
   

   Solution

   This is an example of a spurious correlation where the crime rate as dependent variable, population size as spurious variable and the number of policemen as independent variable. The path diagram below illustrates this.
   

   
   
   1. True
   2. False
   3. False
   4. False