Blame It on the Rain
Resources for this lesson:
You will use your Algebra II Journal 
on this page.
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For a community service project, Andrew is gathering data on community safety to identify ways to keep the community safe. The school resource officer has gathered county data on the number of arrests made this past month, which included the number of vehicle stops made, calls to residence, and other incidences (calls to businesses or shopping centers, general patrol, etc.).
Andrew organized the data to compare total arrests made to arrests made by vehicle stops:
Month |
Total Number of Vehicle Stops |
Total Number of Arrests Made |
|---|---|---|
January |
800 |
1500 |
February |
673 |
1350 |
March |
500 |
1100 |
April |
475 |
1050 |
May |
577 |
1200 |
June |
600 |
1275 |
July |
827 |
1650 |
August |
810 |
1575 |
September |
400 |
1000 |
October |
300 |
900 |
November |
525 |
1125 |
December |
780 |
1400 |
Andrew makes the following conclusion: Vehicle stops trigger more arrests.
Algebra II Journal: Reflection 1
Respond to the following questions in your Algebra II Journal and submit to your teacher.
- Evaluate Andrew’s conclusion. Decide if his statement is one of causation or correlation. Determine whether his conclusion is valid. If his conclusion is not valid, revise the conclusion.
- How can you distinguish between statements of correlation and causation?
- What is a lurking variable?
- When is it acceptable to write a statement of causation?
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