1. A study was conducted regarding the diet of mothers, prior to pregnancy, and the sex of their babies. Out of 133 food items, breakfast cereal was the only item that was significantly related to the sex of a baby. Based on the results, the sample of women who consumed more cereal had a greater percentage of male babies than the sample of the women who consumed less cereal prior to their pregnancy.
2. Why is it not surprising that 1 food item out of 133 food items was found to be related to the sex of the baby?
3. In the report, the researchers mention that because of the multiplicity of testing, they only considered the results to be significant if the P-value was less than 0.01. Why is that important?
4. Is this strong evidence that having a history of consuming a certain food before becoming pregnant affects the sex of the baby? Explain.
5. Why would it be problematic to rely on retrospective reports of what the women ate prior to the conceiving their babies?