Pearson’s Correlation There is no question that both nature (genetics) and nurtu

Question

Pearson’s Correlation

There is no question that both nature (genetics) and nurture (environment) play a role in human characteristics and behavior. One way to tease apart the effect of nature and the effect of nurture is to study children who have been adopted at birth. These children are unique in that they received the genetic influence from their birth parents and the environmental influence from their adoptive parents. For example, a research study can be conducted to see if the amount of time a child spends watching TV is more correlated with the TV-watching time of his/her birth parent or adoptive parent. If the TV-watching time of the child is more correlated with the birth parent’s TV-watching time, it means that the propensity to watch TV might be genetically determined to a larger extent compared to environmental influence. If it’s more correlated with the adoptive parent’s TV-watching time, then it means that the propensity to watch TV might be influenced by the behavior of the adoptive parent to a larger extent.

Use the following dataset to answer the questions below:

Amount of Time Spent Watching Television (# of hours per day)

Subject ID #

Child

Child’s Birth Parent

Child’s Adoptive Parent

1

4

3

6

2

3

1

5

3

5

4

7

4

2

6

3

5

3

2

3

6

1

2

1

7

5

3

6

8

2

2

1

9

3

3

4

10

2

4

4

Part 2: Correlating the children’s TV watching time with their adoptive parents’ TV watching time

b) Explain the direction and strength of the relationship based on the r. (2 points total: 1 for direction, 1 for strength)

c) What is the proportion of shared variance between children’s TV watching time and their adoptive parents’ TV watching time? That is, how much of the variance in the children’s TV watching time can be predicted from their adoptive parents’ TV watching time? (2 points total: 1 for work, 1 for result)

d) Based on the two r statistics, what would be the answer to the research question of whether children’s TV-watching habit is influenced more by nature or nurture? (1 point)

Amount of Time Spent Watching Television (# of hours per day)

Subject ID #

Child

Child’s Birth Parent

Child’s Adoptive Parent

1

4

3

6

2

3

1

5

3

5

4

7

4

2

6

3

5

3

2

3

6

1

2

1

7

5

3

6

8

2

2

1

9

3

3

4

10

2

4

4

Subject ID # Child Child's Birth Parent Child's Adoptive Parent z score z score birth z score adaptive 0.973328527 0 -1.41421356 0.486664263 1.45999279 3 -0.75 2.1213203440.486664263 0-0.70710678-0.486664263 1.45999279 0.973328527 1.45999279 6 0.75 7 1.5 0.707106781 4 1 1.5-0.70710678 6 1.5 1-0.75-0.70710678 4 4 -0.75 0.707106781 10 2

Explanation / Answer

a)

use correlation in data in excel

r = 0.892218

b)

direction - positive

strength - strong

c)

this is given by r^2 (coefficient to determination)

r^2 = 0.796053

so 79.605%

d)

we have to just compare r^2 to that of previous case (part-1) , the stronger r^2 is , the more influential it is

hence nurture is more important

Please rate

Child Child’s Adoptive Parent 4 6 3 5 5 7 2 3 3 3 1 1 5 6 2 1 3 4 2 4

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