Causation and Threats to Validity week 2 525.docx - 1....

1. Causation and Threats to Validity
Part I: Read the following statements and consider what you
learned from this week's readings. For each statement,
identify a) the implied independent variable, b) the implied
dependent variable, and c) validity threats that might
alternatively explain the relationship between the variables:
1. Hot weather results in more crime.
2. Full moons cause boating accidents.
3. More police equals less crime.
Part II: Consider the following applied research scenario and
answer the questions that follow:
In 2015, border patrol agents in the Yuma (Arizona) sector
began using drones along the border between the U.S. and
Mexico. To examine the effects of using drones, researchers
recorded yearly border patrol apprehensions between 2015
and 2019. They also collected Yuma's yearly reported crime
rates from the FBI during this time period, as well as
demographic data from the U.S. Census. As illustrated
in