correlations

psychology correlations

naughty words

naughty words

difference, cause and effect, IV, DV, effect, conditions, groups, between

what is a positive correlation

a relationship between variables where, as one increases, the other also increases

what is a negative correlation

a relationship between variables where, as one decreases, the other increases

association does not

mean causation

what is no correlation

when variables are considered uncorrelated

what does correlations refer to

a measure of how strongly two or more variables are related to each other

what level of data does correlational analysis need

at least ordinal data

structure of a null hypothesis

there will be no significant correlation between [variable one] (measured by) and [variable two] (measured by). any relationship found will be due to chance.

structure of a one-tailed hypothesis

there will be a significant (pos/neg) correlation between [variable 1] (measured by) and [variable 2] (measured by).

structure of a two-tailed hypothesis

there will be a significant correlation between [variable 1] (measured by) and [variable 2] (measured by).

what level of data must there be for a correlational analysis

at least ordinal data

between what numbers is there a strong positive correlation

0.5 and 1

between what numbers is there a strong negative correlation

-0.5 and -1

between what numbers is there a weak positive correlation

0 and 0.5

between what numbers is there a weak negative correlation

0 and -0.5

what does 1 mean as a correlation coefficient

perfect positive correlation

what does -1 mean as a correlation coeffecient

perfect negative correlation

what does 0 mean as a correlation coefficient

there is no correlation

strengths of a correlational study

- identify relationships between variables that would be impractical or unethical to manipulate in an experiment
- correlations are a good starting point to suggest ideas for future research

weaknesses of a correlational study

- cause and effect cannot be established as correlations can only suggest a relationship between two variables, so further research would be needed
- an unknown third variable may have caused the link, therefore correlations may lack validity