correlations

correlations are a way of doing research

correlation research

looks for a relationship between two variables known as coverable one ad coverable two

they will always involve the use of another research method to measure the variable

positive correlation

as one variable increases, the other does too

negative correlation

as one variable increases, the other decreases

zero correlation

no relationship between the points

strong correlation

proportional

weak correlation

not proportional

null hypothesis

states there will be no effect

alternative hypothesis

states there will be an effect= non directional or directional

strengths of correlations

• can easily establish if there is a relationship between two variables. This is useful because we can then conduct further studies to look for a reason for the relationship.So, correlations are useful as an initial exploratory piece of research.

• The analysis of the data is objective because correlations use quantitive data which is analysed statistically and therefore correlational research tends to be reliable(however does depend on what research method has been used to measure variables as it could be subjective)

weaknesses of correlations

• validity is dependent on how the two variables have been measured. Correlations often rely on quantitive data e.g. qualitative data such as happiness rating being turned into quantitive data. This is subjective and susceptible to both demand characteristics and social desirability bias.

• correlations do not establish a cause and effect relationship, they simply show some kind of relation ship between the two variables. There could be a third variable that is the cause of both the variables being tested.