Question: Lunchtime. Does how long children remain at the lunch table help predict how much they eat? The table gives data on 20 toddlers observed over several months at a nursery school. Time is the average number of minutes a child spent at the table when lunch was served. Calories is the average number of calories the child consumed during lunch, calculated from careful observation of what the child ate each day.
a) Find the correlation for these data.
b) Suppose we were to record time at the table in hours rather than in minutes. How would the correlation change? Why?
c) Write a sentence or two explaining what this correlation means for these data. Remember to write about food consumption by toddlers rather than about correlation coefficients.
d) One analyst concluded, It is clear from this correlation that toddlers who spend more time at the table eat less. Evidently something about being at the table causes them to lose their appetites. Explain why this explanation is not an appropriate conclusion from what we know about the data.