correlation

Question 1

research questions

Answer 1

• broad question about the concept being investigated
• must end with a ?
  -* e.g. are people happier when its sunny?*

Question 2

research aims

Answer 2

• identifying a more specific concept within this question which the researcher wants to investigate

Question 3

correlation studies

Answer 3

• working with 2 co-variables because they are measured and compared to see how they co-vary with each other
• looking for a relaltionshop between these 2 co-variables rather than a difference between the results from different conditions

Question 4

two-tailed correlational hypothesis

Answer 4

• “There will be a significant correlation between co-variables y and z”
• doesnt use direction- not incuding the words positive or negative, no expectation is being conveyed for the direction
• uses the word correlation rather than difference

Question 5

one-tailed correlational hypothesis

Answer 5

• “there will be a significant positive/negative correlation between co-variables y and z”
• has direction

Question 6

what represents a positive correlation

Answer 6

• if the correlation has a ‘+’ as part of its correlation co-efficient

Question 7

what represents a negative correlation

Answer 7

• if the correlation has a ‘-‘ as part of its correlation co-efficient

Question 8

what represents a no correlation

Answer 8

a correlation with the co-efficient around 0
e.g. +0.12 or -0.12

Question 9

advantages of correlation studies

Answer 9

• they can tell us new relationships and correlations which can also tell us the direction of their relationship and the strength of the relationship too
• as there is no manipulation in a correlation study, it is a **useful technique when either practical or ethical reasons mean that variables cannot be manipulated **
• can act as a good starting point for research because once relationships have been established between co-variables, more research can be conducted to investigate them further

Question 10

disadvantages of correlational studies

Answer 10

• does not tell us anything about cause and effect, it doesnt tell us what was causing what
• does **not always pick up on a relationship between 2 co-variables **
• they** do not require the collection of any qualitative data** which* limits our ability to know what sits behind any relationship that might be found*