Benevolence payments are monies collected by a church to fund activities and ministries...

Benevolence payments are monies collected by a church to fund activities and ministries beyond those provided by the church to its own members. The article “Optimal Church Size: The Bigger the Better” (Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion [1993]: 231– 241) considered a regression of y benevolence payments on x₁ = number of church members, , and x₃ = an indicator variable for urban versus nonurban churches.

a. The sample size was n = 300 and adjusted R² = .774. Does at least one of the three predictors provide useful information about y?

b. The article reported that b₃ = 101.1 and = 625.8. Should the indicator variable be retained in the model? Test the relevant hypotheses.