Question

Suppose a researcher found a strong negative correlation between college students' grade point average (GPA) and the amount of alcohol they drink. Which of the following is the best conclusion from this study?

a) Students with high GPA study more and thus have less time to drink.
b) Drinking a lot of alcohol interferes with studying.
c) The more alcohol students drink, the lower their GPAs.
d) The higher a student GPA, the more he or she drinks.

Answer 1

The best conclusion from the study is that the more alcohol students drink, the lower their GPAs.

Step-by-step explanation:

The best conclusion from the study that found a strong negative correlation between college students' grade point average (GPA) and the amount of alcohol they drink is option c) The more alcohol students drink, the lower their GPAs. The negative correlation implies that as the amount of alcohol students drink increases, their GPA decreases.

This means that there is a relationship between alcohol consumption and academic performance, indicating that drinking a lot of alcohol interferes with studying. For example, if the study found that students who drink more than 10 drinks per week have an average GPA of 2.0, while students who drink less than 5 drinks per week have an average GPA of 3.5, this would support the conclusion that the more alcohol students drink, the lower their GPAs.