To be more accurate, we should change the label on the X-axis of the graph to "Self-report of drinks consumed per week." This was undoubtedly self-report data (nobody was observing the drinking habits of 56,000 people). What is a positive or negative correlation? A positive correlation is one in which variables go up or down together, producing an uphill slope. As the amount of alcohol consumed goes up on the graph, the corresponding GPA goes down. This is a negative correlation, which means that one variable goes up as the other goes down. Using the correlation shown in this graph, you could predict that a person who drank a six pack of beer every day would be likely to flunk out of school. B students (those with a 3.0 GPA) averaged 5 drinks per week, while D students (with a 1.0 GPA) averaged 10 drinks per week. The more a student drank, the worse was that student's grade-point average. Researchers asked 56,000 students about their drinking habits and grades, to see how drinking might correlate with performance in school. Consider this figure, from data produced by a 1992 study at the University of Illinois. ![]() If a correlation is a strong one, predictive power can be great. From this one might predict that babies how are "out of sync" with their mothers might fuss and cry significantly more than other babies. Correlations make it possible to use the value of one variable to predict the value of another.įor example, one could use Daniel Stern's finding from the previous page, that mothers and newborns with a good relationship tend to synchronize their movements. "Co-relation" means essentially the same thing as "co-incidence" or things occurring together.Ĭorrelations, observed patterns in the data, are the only type of data produced by observational research. ![]() The technical term for a coincidence is a correlation. The evidence produced by observational research is called correlational data.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |