True or false: In the logistic regression model, the estimated regression coefficients are probabilities.

• A. Probabilities
• B. Odds
• C. False
• D. Coefficients

Answer: (C)

In logistic regression, we model the log-odds of the outcome as a linear function of the predictors: log(p/(1-p)) = β0 + β1x1 + … . This means the estimated coefficients describe how the log-odds change with a one-unit increase in a predictor, not how the probability itself changes. Exponentiating a coefficient gives the odds ratio, showing multiplicative changes in the odds, not the probability. To get the predicted probability, you apply the logistic function to the linear predictor: p = 1 / (1 + exp(-(β0 + β1x1 + …))). So the coefficients are not probabilities; they are log-odds adjustments, with probabilities derived only after transforming through the logistic function.