Dr. Guidry conducts a study examining the relationship between the number of friends one has and the experience of daily stress and life satisfaction. She randomly samples 1,500 elderly men and women in Nashville, Tennessee (the state capital), located in the southern United States. Below are her findings.
•Life satisfaction and experience of daily stress: r =.57 (p = .01)
•Number of friends one has and experience of daily stress: r = .09, not sig.
•Number of friends one has and life satisfaction: r = .36 (p = .04)
Matt, Dr. Guidry's research assistant, is discussing the findings of the study with some other students. He claims that the experience of more daily stress causes people to have lower life satisfaction. Which of the following causal criteria did Matt meet?
A)The covariance of cause and effect
B)Temporal precedence
C)Internal validity
D)External validity

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Matt's claim meets the criterion of the covariance of cause and effect because the findings show a significant relationship (r = .57, p = .01) between the experience of daily stress and life satisfaction, indicating that as daily stress increases, life satisfaction decreases, or vice versa. However, without temporal precedence (knowing which comes first) or ensuring internal validity (ruling out other explanations), causality cannot be definitively established.

Dr Guidry Conducts a Study Examining the Relationship Between the Number