Use the following to answer the questions below:
The scatterplot shows the relationship between GPA and the number of Facebook friends for 30 students in a class.

-The correlation between GPA and the number of Facebook friends is -0.686. Should you go "unfriend" some of your Facebook friends if you want to improve your GPA (i.e., can you conclude that having more Facebook friends lowers GPA)?

Question

Use the following to answer the questions below:
The scatterplot shows the relationship between GPA and the number of Facebook friends for 30 students in a class.
 
-The correlation between GPA and the number of Facebook friends is -0.686. Should you go "unfriend" some of your Facebook friends if you want to improve your GPA (i.e., can you conclude that having more Facebook friends lowers GPA)?

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

No! Correlation does not imply causation! A possible lurking variable could be amount of time spent studying - maybe individuals with more Facebook friends spend more time online and less time studying (hence the lower GPA).

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