Identify the purported cause, the purported effect, as well as the method used t
ID: 3486673 • Letter: I
Question
Identify the purported cause, the purported effect, as well as the method used to support the conclusion: agreement, difference, joint method, method of concomitant variations, or residues.
(a) Research shows that the A-1 Security Gadget increases safety levels at airports. We tested the device at four major airports, and in each case the number of concealed weapons detected increased over past months.
(b) I think this wool sweater is giving me a rash, because I haven't changed body soap or clothing detergent, and nothing else could be causing me this problem.
Explanation / Answer
Note* the response is in UK English. Please paste the answer to MS Word and you will be able to easily change any difference.
(Answer)
Purported Effect – More weapons have been detected since implementation.
Purported Effect – Rash.
This is a common problem that most researchers face. If you fill a glass of water from the ocean and it does not have a fish in it, does that mean that the entire ocean has no fish?
Such conclusions have the flaw of having insufficient research and wrong and/or insufficient data. Sometimes a correlation coefficient does point out the exact cause of an effect. But at other times, the results are purely circumstantial. In both the given above, the effects of the “A-1 system” and the “body soap” are merely assumptions. A hypothesis, like the ones above, need to be thoroughly analysed and only then confirmed.
Solution: For situations like that, one needs to analyse the ‘Confounding Variables’
In statistics, a confounder or a confounding variable is a variable that is directly or indirectly related to both, the independent or independent variable. Example: It can be assumed that the older one gets, the fatter they become.
Here – Purported Cause – Age
Purported Effect – Weight gain.
But in fact, the real problem could be that older people are sedentary due to their jobs. Lack of physical activity causes them to gain weight.
Actual Cause – Lesser activity.