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Suppose at your university you are asked to find the relationship between weekly hours spent studying (study) and weekly hours spent working (work). Does it make sense to characterize the problem as

inferring whether study “causes” work or work “causes” study? Explain

User Naquiuddin
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1 Answer

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Step-by-step explanation:

It is not appropriate to characterize the relationship between weekly hours spent studying and weekly hours spent working as inferring whether study "causes" work or work "causes" study, because causation cannot be determined solely based on the correlation between two variables.

There could be several factors influencing both the study and work hours, such as personal motivation, academic and work demands, financial circumstances, and family responsibilities. These factors can have a bidirectional relationship with study and work, where one can influence the other, and vice versa.

Therefore, instead of trying to establish a causal relationship between study and work, it would be more appropriate to examine the nature of their association and explore the factors that contribute to their correlation. A thorough investigation of the potential confounding variables and underlying mechanisms that affect the study-work relationship can provide a more comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon.

User Gbulmer
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