Question

In an observational study involving a random sample of 1,000 high school students,

researchers noted that students who participated in elementary school music programs

scored higher on math exams in later grades than students who did not participate in

elementary school music programs. We would not want to conclude that participating in an

elementary school music program causes higher math exam scores because

A. everyone knows music has absolutely nothing to do with math.

B. there are lurking variables that have not been controlled for.

C. the sample size needs to be at least 5,000 before we can conclude one variable causes

another.

D. an experiment was not conducted.

E. Both B and D are correct.

Answer 1

Solution:

To answer the question first of all we should know what is lurking variable.

Lurking variable : A lurking variable is the variable that is unknown and not controlled for. It has an significant effect on variable of interest. Lurking variables are extraneous variables, but because of lurking variable we can have a different relationship between independent variable and dependent variable than the relationship actually is.

And to control the lurking variable we need to conduct an experiment.

Hence, for the given scenario, option (E) is correct.