An economist conducted a study of the possible association between weekly income and weekly grocery expenditures. The particular interest was whether higher income would cause shoppers to spend more on groceries. A random sample of shoppers at a local supermarket was obtained. A questionnaire was administered asking about the weekly income of each shopper's family and their grocery bill for that week. A second survey was conducted at a different supermarket, and the scatterplot was obtained for the relationship between grocery expenditures and incomes in that survey as well. The two scatterplots are given below: Which of the following statements is true?
A)The correlations for both surveys are similar in magnitude.
B)The correlation is closer to 1 in survey 1 than in survey 2.
C)The correlation is closer to 0 in survey 1 than in survey 2.
D)The correlations need to be calculated to determine which is closer to 1; a scatterplot cannot provide this information.

Question

An economist conducted a study of the possible association between weekly income and weekly grocery expenditures. The particular interest was whether higher income would cause shoppers to spend more on groceries. A random sample of shoppers at a local supermarket was obtained. A questionnaire was administered asking about the weekly income of each shopper's family and their grocery bill for that week. A second survey was conducted at a different supermarket, and the scatterplot was obtained for the relationship between grocery expenditures and incomes in that survey as well. The two scatterplots are given below:   Which of the following statements is true?
A)The correlations for both surveys are similar in magnitude. 
B)The correlation is closer to 1 in survey 1 than in survey 2. 
C)The correlation is closer to 0 in survey 1 than in survey 2. 
D)The correlations need to be calculated to determine which is closer to 1; a scatterplot cannot provide this information.

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The scatterplot for survey 1 shows a weaker, more scattered relationship between income and grocery expenditures, while the scatterplot for survey 2 shows a stronger and more tightly clustered relationship between income and grocery expenditures. This suggests that the correlation in survey 2 is closer to 1 than the correlation in survey 1.

An Economist Conducted a Study of the Possible Association Between