Roberta reads in the local paper that there is an increase in white-collar crimes (crimes committed by college-educated people) in the United States. The percentage of criminals who are college educated has gone up to 32 percent in the past five years. Roberta concludes that a college education can cause a person to commit a crime.
Based on your understanding of the definition of a correlation, explain whether or not Roberta is correct in her assumption. Give an example of a positive correlation and a negative correlation that you may have seen in everyday life and explain how correlation may be misperceived as causation.
Justify your answers with appropriate reasoning.