Dr.Munroe of the Quick Stop Counselling Clinic noticed that female clients with eating disorders who were counselled during the hours of 8:00 to 11:45 a.m.recovered much faster than those who were counselled from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.She jumped to the false conclusion that time of day of counselling caused a quicker recovery.Dr.Elgin was more cautious.He noticed that all the clinic staff used the same treatment,but the clinic's female counsellors all worked at the clinic in the morning,and male counsellors worked in the afternoon.He found that the faster recovery had nothing to do with the time of day;rather,it was due to female clients responding to the treatment with female counsellors.What is Dr.Munroe's initial causal relationship called?
A)Null hypothesis
B)Spurious statement
C)Ecological fallacy
D)Reductionism
E)None of the above

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Dr. Munroe's initial causal relationship is called a spurious statement because it wrongly assumes that two variables (time of day and faster recovery) are causally related, when in reality they are not. The faster recovery is actually caused by the gender of the counsellor, not the time of day.

DrMunroe of the Quick Stop Counselling Clinic Noticed That Female