Sorry Mike,

When a study measures a independent variable, such as number of bees
returning with pollen loads, against a putative dependent variable, such as
amount of wax produced, a scatterplot graph will suggest a correlation if
the data points roughly line up along a slope.  The R squared value
indicates what percentage of the variation in the dependent variable
appears to correlate with the independent variable.

In English, an R squared value of 1 indicates 100% correlation.  In the
study we are referring to, the R squared value was 0.77, which would be
considered to be indicative of a strong correlation between incoming pollen
and wax production.  The question then is whether the pollen income was
causal--meaning, was the amount of wax produced actually due to the pollen
coming in, or was it a spurious correlation, since the amount of incoming
pollen may simply indicate that a lot of nectar was also being brought it?

I'd welcome anyone else to take a stab at explaining R squared values : )


-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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