Which of the following will strengthen the evidence for a causal connection?
A)Many observational studies conducted under different conditions all find the same link between two variables.
B)Many observational studies with different confounding variables all find the same link between the two variables.
C)The same type of relationship holds when the explanatory variables fall into different ranges for different studies.
D)All of the above.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

All of the given options would strengthen the evidence for a causal connection.

Option A suggests that the correlation between two variables is consistent across numerous observational studies, despite different conditions. This consistency would make it less likely that the observed relationship is due to chance.

Option B states that multiple observational studies with different extraneous variables (confounders) all find the same link between two variables. This would imply that the observed relationship is not simply due to some other factor that is different between the studied groups.

Option C notes that the same type of relationship occurs in different ranges of the explanatory variable. This would suggest that the relationship between the two variables is generalizable and not just specific to certain ranges of one of the variables.

Together, all of these criteria would make a causal connection more likely.

Which of the Following Will Strengthen the Evidence for a Causal