Suppose a Study Was Conducted to Examine the Relationship Between

Essay

Suppose a study was conducted to examine the relationship between how often people exercise and how happy they are with their lives. Participants in this study were asked to report how many times a week they exercise for 30 minutes or more at a time and to complete a questionnaire with items that measure their quality of life (e.g., How many times in the past week do you remember feeling happy?). A positive relationship is found between the number of times per week people exercise and their quality of life score.
Discuss why we cannot conclude a causal relationship between frequency of exercise and degree of happiness.