In social science research, prosocial behavior refers to voluntary behavior that benefits other people or society as a whole, such as volunteering time to help others or sharing resources. Psychologists have been interested in investigating the question of whether individuals of higher socioeconomic status (SES) are less prosocial than others. A field study was conducted to explore the association between socioeconomic status and prosocial behavior. Researchers identified high and low SES households in New York City based on examining neighborhood rental and sale prices, then randomly selected 400 addresses for inclusion in the study. The average household wealth was estimated to be about $2.5 million among the addresses selected from the wealthiest neighborhoods and about $25,000 among those selected from the poorest neighborhoods. For context, the median household wealth of American families living in urban areas was $126,000 from a 2019 survey; this measure captures the total value of assets such as bank accounts, vehicles, and retirement accounts. The prosocial behavior measured in the study was whether a household returned a misdelivered postcard; returning misdelivered mail benefits another individual at no benefit to oneself. Researchers intentionally delivered a postcard to each household in the study with the same (wrong) address and compared the rate at which the high and low SES households forwarded the postcards to the correct address.1 They found that high SES households were more likely to return the misdelivered postcards; 49.5% of the postcards sent to high SES households were returned, while only 35.5% of those sent to low SES households were returned. This observed difference between groups is highly statistically significant, with p-value of 0.01 from a two-group proportions test. Additionally, this association persisted after adjusting for distance of recipient house from the nearest public mailbox as well as distance of recipient house from delivery address. Researchers concluded that these findings make an important contribution to advancing understanding of the link between socioeconomic status and prosocial behavior.

i. A reporter from the New York Times writing an article about this study would like to state that based on these data there is a 99% chance that the rate of returning misdelivered mail is different between high and low SES households in NYC. Is this statement misleading? Explain your answer in language accessible to an audience without a statistics background. Limit your answer to no more than six sentences.

ii. Describe two features of this study that represent limitations for understanding the association between socioeconomic status and prosocial behavior. Be sure to fully explain your reasoning. Limit your answer to no more than ten sentences