Nature Deficit Only a few generations ago, children played much more outside, participated in spontaneous play, communicated face to face, and learned how to compromise. Today, in fear, many parents are reluctant to let their child play outdoors alone. As a result, many children have very little contact with nature. Some research suggests that children who play regularly in natural environments tend to be healthier. A random sample of middle school children was obtained, and the number of hours per week each child played outside and the number of days of school missed due to illness was recorded. The data are given in the following table.
Compute Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. Does this value support the theory that healthier children spend more time outside? Justify your answer.