UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING – TINDIVANAM

(A Constituent College of Anna university Chennai)

Department of Information Technology
CS3352 –Foundation of Data Science
Assignment 3 - Date of submission : 22.11.2024

1. Indicate whether the following statements suggest a positive or negative relationship:

(a) More densely populated areas have higher crime rates.
(b) Schoolchildren who often watch TV perform more poorly on academic achievement tests. (c)
Heavier automobiles yield poorer gas mileage.
(d) Better-educated people have higher incomes.
(e) More anxious people voluntarily spend more time performing a simple repetitive task.

2. Critical reading and math scores on the SAT test for students A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H are
shown in the following scatterplot:

(a) Which student(s) scored about the same on both tests?

(b) Which student(s) scored higher on the critical reading test than on the math test?
(c) Which student(s) will be eligible for an honors program that requires minimum scores of 700
in critical reading and 500 in math?
(d) Is there a negative relationship between the critical reading and math scores?

3. Supply a verbal description for each of the following correlations. (If necessary, visualize a rough
scatterplot for r)
(a) an r of –.84 between total mileage and automobile resale value
(b) an r of –.35 between the number of days absent from school and performance on a math
achievement test
(c) an r of .03 between anxiety level and college GPA
(d) an r of .56 between age of schoolchildren and reading comprehension.

4. Speculate on whether the following correlations reflect simple cause-effect relationships or more
complex states of affairs. (Hint: A cause-effect relationship implies that, if all else remains the
 same, any change in the causal variable should always produce a predictable change in the other
variable.
a)caloric intake and body weight (b) height and weight (c) SAT math score and score on a
calculus test (d) poverty and crime.
5. Couples who attend a clinic for first pregnancies are asked to estimate (independently of each
other) the ideal number of children. Given that X and Y represent the estimates of females and
males, respectively, the results are as follows:

Calculate a value for r, using the computation formula.

6. a) Estimate whether the following pairs of scores for X and Y reflect a positive relationship, a
negative relationship, or no relationship. Hint: Note any tendency for pairs of X and Y scores to
occupy similar or dissimilar relative locations.

(b) Construct a scatterplot for X and Y. Verify that the scatterplot does not describe a
pronounced curvilinear trend.
(c) Calculate r using the computation formula.

7. Calculate the value of r using the computational formula for the following data.

8. Indicate whether the following generalizations suggest a positive or negative relationship. Also
speculate about whether or not these generalizations reflect simple cause-effect relationships.
 (a) Preschool children who delay gratification (postponing eating one marshmallow to win
two) subsequently receive higher teacher evaluations of adolescent competencies.
(b) College students who take longer to finish a test perform more poorly on that test.
(c) Heavy smokers have shorter life expectancies.
(d) Infants who experience longer durations of breastfeeding score higher on IQ tests in later
childhood.

9. On the basis of an extensive survey, the California Department of Education reported an r of –.32
for the relationship between the amount of time spent watching TV and the achievement test
scores of schoolchildren. Each of the following statements represents a possible interpretation of
this finding. Indicate whether each is True or False.
(a) Every child who watches a lot of TV will perform poorly on the achievement tests.
(b) Extensive TV viewing causes a decline in test scores.
(c) Children who watch little TV will tend to perform well on the tests.
(d) Children who perform well on the tests will tend to watch little TV.
(e) If Gretchen’s TV-viewing time is reduced by one-half, we can expect a substantial
improvement in her test scores.
(f) TV viewing could not possibly cause a decline in test scores

10. Assume that an r of .80 describes the relationship between daily food intake, measured in ounces,
and body weight, measured in pounds, for a group of adults. Would a shift in the units of
measurement from ounces to grams and from pounds to kilograms change the value of r ? Justify
your answer.

11. An extensive correlation study indicates that a longer life is experienced by people who follow
the seven “golden rules” of behavior, including moderate drinking, no smoking, regular meals,
some exercise, and eight hours of sleep each night. Can we conclude, therefore, that this type of
behavior causes a longer life?

12. Assume that an r of .30 describes the relationship between educational level (highest grade
completed) and estimated number of hours spent reading each week. More specifically:

(a) Determine the least squares equation for predicting weekly reading time from educational
level.
(b) Faith’s education level is 15. What is her predicted reading time?
(c) Keegan’s educational level is 11. What is his predicted reading time?

13. (a) Calculate the standard error of estimate for the data in Question 7.2 on page 132, assuming
that the correlation of .30 is based on n = 35 pairs of observations. (b) Supply a rough
interpretation of the standard error of estimate.
14. Assume that an r of .30 describes the relationship between educational level and estimated hours
spent reading each week.
(a) According to r², what percent of the variability in weekly reading time is predictable from its
relationship with educational level? 7.8 REGRESSION TOWARD THE MEAN 141
(b) What percent of variability in weekly reading time is not predictable from this relationship?
(c) Someone claims that 9 percent of each person’s estimated reading time is predictable from the
relationship. What is wrong with this claim?

15. The correlation between the IQ scores of parents and children is .50, and that between the IQ
scores of foster parents and foster children is .27.
(a) Does this signify, therefore, that the relationship between foster parents and foster children is
about one-half as strong as the relationship between parents and children?
(b) Use r 2 to compare the strengths of these two correlations.

16. After a group of college students attended a stress-reduction clinic, declines were observed in the
anxiety scores of those who, prior to attending the clinic, had scored high on a test for anxiety. (a)
Can this decline be attributed to the stress-reduction clinic? Explain your answer. (b) What type
of study, if any, would permit valid conclusions about the effect of the stressreduction clinic?

17. Assume that an r of –.80 describes the strong negative relationship between years of heavy
smoking (X) and life expectancy (Y ). Assume, furthermore, that the distributions of heavy
smoking and life expectancy each have the following means and sums of squares:

(a) Determine the least squares regression equation for predicting life expectancy from years of
heavy smoking.
(b) Determine the standard error of estimate, sy|x, assuming that the correlation of –.80 was based
on n = 50 pairs of observations.
(c) Supply a rough interpretation of sy|x.
(d) Predict the life expectancy for John , who has smoked heavily for 8 years.
(e) Predict the life expectancy for Katie, who has never smoked heavily.

18. Each of the following pairs represents the number of licensed drivers (X ) and the number of cars
(Y ) for seven houses in my neighborhood:
 (a) Construct a scatterplot to verify a lack of pronounced curvilinearity.
(b) Determine the least squares equation for these data. (Remember, you will first have to
calculate r, SSy and SSx )
(c) Determine the standard error of estimate, sy|x, given that n = 7.
(d) Predict the number of cars for each of two new families with two and five drivers.

19. At a large bank, length of service is the best single predictor of employees’ salaries. Can we
conclude, therefore, that there is a cause-effect relationship between length of service and salary?
7.10 Assume that r 2 equals .50 for the relationship between height and weight for adults. Indicate
whether the following statements are true or false.
(a) Fifty percent of the variability in heights can be explained by variability in weights.
(b) There is a cause-effect relationship between height and weight.
(c) The heights of 50 percent of adults can be predicted exactly from their weights.
(d) Fifty percent of the variability in weights is predictable from heights.

20. In studies dating back over 100 years, it’s well established that regression toward the mean
occurs between the heights of fathers and the heights of their adult sons. Indicate whether the
following statements are true or false.
(a) Sons of tall fathers will tend to be shorter than their fathers.
(b) Sons of short fathers will tend to be taller than the mean for all sons.
(c) Every son of a tall father will be shorter than his father.
(d) Taken as a group, adult sons are shorter than their fathers.
(e) Fathers of tall sons will tend to be taller than their sons.
(f) Fathers of short sons will tend to be taller than their sons but shorter than the mean for all
fathers.

21. Someone suggests that it would be a good investment strategy to buy the five poorest-performing
stocks on the New York Stock Exchange and capitalize on regression toward the mean.
Comments?

22. In the original study of regression toward the mean, Sir Francis Galton noted a tendency for
offspring of both tall and short parents to drift toward the mean height for offspring and referred
to this tendency as “regression toward mediocrity.” What is wrong with the conclusion that
eventually all heights will be close to their mean?