Question

A sociologist studying freshmen carried out a survey, asking, among other questions, how often students went out per week, how many hours they studied per day, and how many hours they slept at night. The tables provide the answers on the time slept and the time spent studying by whether or not students went out.

 

Go out Hours/day studied	Hours slept less than 6	Hours slept 6 or more	Total		Stay in dorm Hours/day studied	Hours slept less than 6	Hours slept 6 or more	Total
Less than 2	3	9	12		Less than 2	40	120	160
2 or more	14	14	28		2 or more	20	20	40
Total	17	23	40		Total	60	140	200

When we examine the data, we find that students who studied more slept less, both among those who go out and among those who stay in the dorm. When we combine both groups of students, we find that those who studied more also slept more. This is an example of:

Simpson's Paradox.

Andersen's Paradox.

the Probability Paradox.

the Gaussian Paradox.

Answer 1

We know that,

Simpson's paradox (or Simpson's reversal, Yule–Simpson effect, amalgamation paradox, or reversal paradox) is a phenomenon in probability and statistics, in which a trend appears in several different groups of data but disappears or reverses when these groups are combined.

Hence, this is Simpson's Paradox.

Thank you.