Two Researchers Are Interested in the Same Response Variable-Namely, the Amount

Multiple Choice

Two researchers are interested in the same response variable-namely, the amount of phosphorus present in a particular stream. The first researcher regresses the amount of phosphorus against the amount of total dissolved solids (TDS) , giving a slope of 0.327, while the second researcher regresses the amount of phosphorus against specific conductivity (SC) and gets a slope of 2.616. What do these results mean?

A) Specific conductivity is a better predictor of the amount of phosphorus than the amount of total dissolved solids because the slope was larger.
B) The amount of total dissolved solids is a better predictor of the amount of phosphorus than specific conductivity because the slope was closer to zero.
C) Specific conductivity is eight times better at predicting the amount of phosphorus than the amount of total dissolved solids.
D) We cannot determine whether specific conductivity or the amount of total dissolved solids is a better predictor of the amount of phosphorus without knowing the correlations.