A researcher examines the relationship between poverty and crime rates for 100 metropolitan areas and finds a zero-order correlation of 0.37. She controls for the percent of families that are headed by single parents and finds a first order partial correlation of 0.06. Which of the following correctly describes this outcome? This is a ______ relationship
A) direct
B) statistically significant
C) spurious
D) interactive

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The zero-order correlation between poverty and crime rates suggests a positive relationship between the two variables, but the first-order partial correlation becomes very weak after controlling for the percentage of single-parent families, indicating that the relationship between poverty and crime rates is spurious. The percentage of single-parent families is a confounding variable that explains much of the association between poverty and crime rates.

A Researcher Examines the Relationship Between Poverty and Crime Rates