A Newspaper Article Reported That a Large Study Measured the Daily

Multiple Choice

A newspaper article reported that a large study measured the daily habits of a sample of mid-level managers. The response variable of interest was whether or not the person had a serious illness during the five years of the study. The investigators looked at 30 habits such as smoking, exercise, church attendance, and so on, and for each habit they tested the null hypothesis that the proportions with serious illness were the same for those with and without the habit. The newspaper reported, "Only one habit was significantly related to the risk of serious illness. The researchers were surprised to find that the managers who drank tea were significantly more likely to have a serious illness than managers who did not drink tea." The most likely explanation for this finding is that

A) drinking tea increases the chance of serious illness.
B) there is a confounding variable that both increases the chances of drinking tea and increases the chances of serious illness.
C) people who are prone to illness are likely to prefer tea to other beverages.
D) there were 30 habits examined, so at least one was likely to be "significant" just by chance, and drinking tea happened to be it.