A local city councils study found that the correlation

Question

Examining Relationships Checkpoint

A local city council's study found that the correlation between number of liquor stores in a neighborhood and neighborhood crime rates across all city neighborhoods was r = 0.88.

Which one of the following statements is true?

1.  There is a pretty strong positive linear relationship between number of liquor stores and crime rates.
2.  Population is a possible lurking variable in this scenario, since areas that are more densely populated are more likely to have higher crime rates.
3.  As the number of liquor stores increase the crime rate will increase in that neighborhood.
4.  Closing liquor stores in a neighborhood will help to reduce the crime rate of that neighborhood.