Individuals who report perceived wrongdoing of a corporation or public agency are known as whistle-blowers. Two researchers developed an index to measure the extent of retaliation against a whistle-blower (Journal of Applied Psychology, 1986). The index was based on the number of forms of reprisal actually experienced, the number of forms of reprisal threatened, and the number of people within the organization (e.g., coworkers or immediate supervisor) who retaliated against them. The table below lists the retaliation index (higher numbers indicate more extensive retaliation) and salary for a sample of 15 whistle-blowers from federal agencies.

a. Construct a scatter plot for the data. Does it appear that the extent of retaliation increases, decreases, or stays the same with an increase in salary? Explain.
b. Use the method of least squares to fit a straight line to the data.
c. Graph the least squares line on your scatter plot. Does the least squares line support your answer to the question in part a? Explain.
d. Interpret the y-intercept, 0 of the least squares line in terms of this application. Is the interpretation meaningful?
e. Interpret the slope, 1, of the least squares line in terms of this application. Over what range of x is this interpretation meaningful?
f. Test the adequacy of the model using α = .05.

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Retaliation Index Salary Retaliation Index Salary 301 550 755 327 500 377 $62.000 36,500 21,600 24,000 30,100 35,000 47500 54,000 535 455 615 700 650 630 360 $19800 44.000 46,600 15,100 70,000 21,000 16,900 452