A researcher determines that the crime rate in a large city fluctuates with the phases of the moon. He concludes that the gravitational pull of the moon influences human behavior. He has committed what error?
Correct answer: B. He incorrectly inferred causation from correlation
- A. He incorrectly inferred correlation from causation
- B. He incorrectly inferred causation from correlation
- C. He failed to measure the gravitational pull to test his hypothesis
- D. He has overlooked the placebo effect
Explanation
The researcher observes that two variables vary together and then concludes that one causes the other, which is an inference from correlation to causation. Correlation alone cannot rule out other causes or coincidence.
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