L4 - Correlations

Question 1

what is CORRELATION?

Answer 1

CORRELATION is a TECHNIQUE for ANALYSING THE STRENGTH and DIRECTION of the RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TWO VARIABLES, known in correlation as CO VARIABLES

Question 2

what are the THREE TYPES OF CORRELATION?

Answer 2

1) POSITIVE CORRELATION
2) NEGATIVE CORRELATION
3) NO CORRELATION

Question 3

what is a POSITIVE CORRELATION?

Answer 3

POSITIVE CORRELATION means that AS ONE VARIABLE INCREASES, the OTHER VARIABLE INCREASES AS WELL (or that as ONE VARIABLE DECREASES the OTHER VARIABLE DECREASES AS WELL)

Question 4

what is a NEGATIVE CORRELATION?

Answer 4

A NEGATIVE CORRELATION means that as ONE VARIABLE INCREASES, the OTHER VARIABLE DECREASES

Question 5

what does the STRENGTH OF A CORRELATION INDICATE?

Answer 5

The STRENGTH OF A CORRELATION (STRONG, MEDIUM, WEAK) is RATED BETWEEN -1 and 1.

0 means there is NO CORRELATION

-1 means there is a STRONG NEGATIVE CORRELATION

1 means there is a STRONG POSITIVE CORRELATION

Question 6

what is the STRENGTH OF A CORRELATION KNOWN AS?

Answer 6

the CORRELATION COEFFICIENT

Question 7

what are the ADVANTAGES of CORRELATIONS?

Answer 7

1) this TECHNIQUE allows psychologists to ESTABLISH THE STRENGTH OF A RELATIONSHIP between TWO VARIABLES and MEASURE IT PRECISELY
2) once a CORRELATION HAS BEEN CONDUCTED, PREDICTIONS CAN BE MADE about THE OTHER VARIABLE
3) this technique also allows researchers to INVESTIGATE THINGS that COULD NOT BE MANIPULATED EXPERIMENTALLY for ETHICAL or PRACTICAL REASONS

Question 8

what are the DISADVANTAGES of CORRELATIONS?

Answer 8

1) CORRELATIONAL ANALYSIS CANNOT DEMONSTRATE CAUSE AND EFFECT; we CANNOT TELL which variable INFLUENCES THE OTHER
2) even if there is a CORRELATION BETWEEN THE TWO VARIABLES it may be the case that the VARIABLES ARE NOT ACTUALLY RELATED but that there is a THIRD UNKNOWN VARIABLE WHICH INFLUENCES BOTH
3) CORRELATION can only measure LINEAR RELATIONSHIPS and DOES NOT DETECT CURVILINEAR RELATIONSHIPS - this is when there is a POSITIVE RELATIONSHIP up to a CERTAIN POINT, and then it BECOMES NEGATIVE (OR VICE VERSA)

Question 9

what are the DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CORRELATIONS and EXPERIMENTS - PT 1

Answer 9

An EXPERIMENT ISOLATES and MANIPULATES THE INDEPENDENT VARIABLE to OBSERVE ITS EFFECT ON THE DEPENDENT VARIABLE, and CONTROLS THE ENVIRONMENT IN ORDER that EXTRANEOUS VARIABLES MAY BE ELIMINATED.

Experiments ESTABLISH CAUSE AND EFFECT

Question 10

what are the DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CORRELATIONS and EXPERIMENTS - PT 2

Answer 10

An experiment tests the EFFECT THAT AN INDEPENDENT VARIABLE has UPON A DEPENDENT VARIABLE but a CORRELATION looks for a RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TWO CO VARIABLES

This means that an EXPERIMENT can PREDICT CAUSE AND EFFECT but a CORRELATION can ONLY PREDICT A RELATIONSHIP, as a THIRD EXTRANEOUS VARIABLE may be INVOLVED THAT IS NOT KNOWN ABOUT

Question 11

KEY TERMS to DESCRIBE STRENGTH of CORRELATIONS (based on the CORRELATION COEFFICIENT -1 to +1)

Answer 11

0 - 0.2 = VERY WEAK

0. 2 - 0.3 = WEAK
1. 4 - 0.6 = MODERATE
2. 7 = MODERATE/STRONG
3. 8 - 1 = VERY STRONG