Correlations

Question 1

CORRELATION

Answer 1

a research method which looks for a relationship between two measured co-variables
POSITIVE: relationship in which both variables move in the same direction - as one increases the other also increases/as one decreases the other also decreases
NEGATIVE: relationship in which an increase in one variable is associated with a decrease in the other - as one increases the other decreases (and vice versa)
NO CORRELATION: no relationship between two variables

+ allows researcher to investigate naturally occurring variables that may be unethical/impractical to test experimentally
+ allows researcher to clearly and easily see if there is a relationship between variables
- cannot be taken to imply causation
- does not allow us to go beyond the given data

Question 2

CAUSATION

Answer 2

when one variable causes the other
- CORRELATION IS NOT CAUSATION

Question 3

CORRELATION COEFFICIENT (r)

Answer 3

in which a correlation can be expressed by a number (-1 to +1)
- perfect positive correlation = +1
- no correlation = 0
- perfect negative correlation = -1

Question 4

ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATION

Question 5

DIRECTIONALITY

Answer 5

the direction of the relationship (positive or negative) is indicated by the sign of the correlation coefficient (r)
- it’s often unclear which variable is the cause and which is the effect