74,337 views
4 votes
4 votes
A news headline claims that "essential Oils Cause Hormone Levels to Drop". They show a scatter plot displaying a weak negative relationship (r = -0.13) between essential oil use and hormone levels.What is wrong with this claim?

A news headline claims that "essential Oils Cause Hormone Levels to Drop&quot-example-1
User Deckard
by
3.0k points

1 Answer

7 votes
7 votes

The relationship between essential oil use and hormone levels are weak negative. This mean that hormone levels drop very slightly with the use of essential oils and, according to the dispersion in the graph, it is possible that, due to measurement errors, r is compatible with zero. Thus, the most that could be said about this relationship is that "excessive use of essential oils might cause hormone levels to drop".

User Joren Van Hocht
by
2.3k points