correlational research

what is a correlation?

a way of looking at relationships between 2 variables

what is a positive correlation?

when high values of one variable equals high values of the other

what is a negative correlation?

when high values of one variable equals low values of the other

what is meant by uncorrelated?

there is no correlation between 2 variables

what are correlations useful for?

making predictions, if 2 variables are correlated you can predict one from the other

what do correlations not show?

one variable causes the other

why is there no independent or dependent variable used in correlational research?

there are 2 variables of equal importance

what will a hypothesis be about in correlation research?

a relationship between 2 variables rather than a difference

how can a hypothesis in correlational research be directional?

by predicting a positive or negative correlation

how can co-variables be measured?

directly by the research or obtained by secondary data gathered from other sources

what is an example of co-variables in biological psychology?

measuring the number of genes a person shares and a behavioural characteristic

how are correlations analysed?

both sets of scores are listed and ranked separately, a scatter graph is then drawn with the line of best fit dictating whether there is a correlation, and a spearman's rho statistical test is carried out

what is an eyeball test?

looking at the data sets to see how they compare, though this is difficult to draw conclusions from

why does a statistical test need to be carried out?

to see if the relationship is real for the group