The relationship between smoking and lung cancer was noted in several studies years before the Surgeon General of the United States was willing to claim that cigarette smoking did cause lung cancer. What was the primary reason for the reluctance?
A) Cause-and-effect conclusions should not be made from correlational data.
B) The samples were not representative of the population.
C) The study results were contaminated by experimenter effects.
D) The tobacco industry funded several important studies that found different conclusions.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The primary reason for the reluctance to claim that cigarette smoking caused lung cancer was due to the belief that cause-and-effect conclusions should not be made from correlational data.

The Relationship Between Smoking and Lung Cancer Was Noted in Several