Question

Hunter wants to prove to his parents that playing computer games while he studies for tests will help him get better grades. He decides to ask 30 of his friends if they play computer games while they study for their tests and what their grades are. He finds that his friends who have high grades also play computer games while they do their homework. He tells his parents that he has proven that playing games while studying for tests will cause his grades to improve. What mistake has Hunter made?

Answer 1

The mistake he made was he asked friends that played video games not only during studying, but also during homework. In order for his test to have worked, he would have needed to only ask his friends that play video games while studying for tests.

Answer 2

Correlation does not imply causation

Explanation:

The fact that some students played computer games while studied and got high grades doesn't mean that the two variables are related because there is no cause-effect relationship between them.

One option is they got high grades because they are intelligent and don't need too much effort to pass the exam.