Correlations (7)

What is a correlation?

A mathematical technique in which a researcher investigates is there is a relationship between 2 variables (co- variables)

How to write a directional hypothesis for correlations?

There will be a significant positive correlation between (co- variable 1) and (co- variable 2)

How to write a non- directional hypothesis for correlations?

There will be a significant correlation between (co- variable 1) and (co- variable 2)

How to write a null hypothesis for correlations?

There will be no relationship between (co-variable 1) and (co-variable 2)

What's a correlation coefficient?

A number that has a max value of 1 and minimum of -1

Advantages of correlations? (3)

• Good preliminary tool- if a correlation is significant, further investigation is justified

• Cheap/quick- no need for controlled environment

• Good to use when the experiment for a study would be impractical/unethical

Disadvantages of correlations? (2)

• People can jump to conclusions based of correlation research

• Interviewing variables- false conclusions can be drawn

What's concurrent validity ?

Comparing a questionnaire with an existing one to see if they produce similar results. If both tests produced similar results then it is said to have concurrent validity.

How can you assess reliability using test retest?

Give the questionnaire to a group of people then give the same group the same questionaire later

Can you improve reliability?

Low reliability in a questionnaire is usually due to the questions

→ questions therefore needs to be rewritten or rephrase to make them clearer- closed questions can often be clearer