A researcher determines that the crime rate in a large city fluctuates with the phases of the moon. He concludes that the gravitational pull of the moon influences human behavior. He has committed what error?

A researcher determines that the crime rate in a large city fluctuates with the phases of the moon. He concludes that the gravitational pull of the moon influences human behavior. He has committed what error?

a. He incorrectly inferred correlation from causation.
b. He incorrectly inferred causation from correlation.
c. He failed to measure the gravitational pull to test his hypothesis.
d. He has overlooked the placebo effect.

Just because the moon phases happened during the crime rate fluctuations does not mean it is the cause. He inferred causation from correlation.
The gravitational pull of the moon would not make a difference as he would still be inferring causation from correlation.
The placebo effect is when a person's belief of something is so strong that the effects are felt.


Science

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