Question

Attend church, live longer? One of the better studies of the effect of regular attendance at religious

services gathered data from a random sample of $3617$ adults. The researchers then measured lots of variables, not just the explanatory variable (religious activities) and the response variable (length of life). A news article said: “Churchgoers were more likely to be nonsmokers, physically active, and at their right weight. But even after health behaviors were taken into account, those not attending religious services regularly still were about $25\%$ more likely to have died.”$57$ What conclusion can we draw from this study? Explain.

Short answer

No conclusions can be drawn from this study.

Step-by-step solution

Given information

Number of adults, $n=3617$

According to the news report, churchgoers were more likely to be nonsmokers, physically active, and of a healthy weight. Even after accounting for health behaviors, people who did not attend religious services on a regular basis were roughly 25% more likely to die.

Concept

Human studies must be approved by an institutional review board in advance. Before taking part, all participants must express their informed consent. Any information regarding the study participants must be kept private.

Explanation

Researchers conducted a study in response to the topic, claiming that going to church makes people live longer lives. So they took a bunch of measurements. As a result, no inferences can be drawn from this study because it is quite likely that churchgoers will be more interested in maintaining a healthy lifestyle in general, and so the religious aspect merely demonstrates correlation, not causation. As a result, no conclusions can be derived from this investigation.