Research Findings

Hypothesis tests, p-values and defensible interpretation

H1

Same-month sunshine is associated with CCI

Not supported

All country-level Pearson p-values are greater than 0.05.

Country Pearson r Pearson p Spearman r Spearman p H0
Germany -0.107 0.243 -0.075 0.416 Not rejected
Spain -0.001 0.987 0.029 0.752 Not rejected
Turkey -0.020 0.831 -0.044 0.635 Not rejected
UK -0.130 0.157 -0.035 0.707 Not rejected
H2

Previous-month sunshine predicts current-month CCI

Not supported

Lag-1 sunshine also fails to reject H0.

Country Lag-1 r p-value H0
Germany -0.075 0.417 Not rejected
Spain 0.025 0.788 Not rejected
Turkey 0.053 0.567 Not rejected
UK -0.071 0.443 Not rejected
H3

Summer and winter CCI means differ

Not supported

Seasonal t-tests are non-significant for all countries.

Country Summer CCI Winter CCI t-stat p-value H0
Germany 99.938 100.035 -0.339 0.736 Not rejected
Spain 100.234 100.607 -0.646 0.521 Not rejected
Turkey 99.902 99.899 0.005 0.996 Not rejected
UK 99.497 99.401 0.209 0.836 Not rejected
H4

Countries with more volatile sunshine have different CCI volatility

Supported, cautiously

The four-country variability check is descriptive due to small sample (n=4).

Scientific Interpretation

The absence of simple linear significance does not mean weather is irrelevant. It means the relationship is likely indirect, non-linear and confounded with macroeconomic context and seasonality.