国外社会科学统计课件20.correlation.pptVIP

Statistics for the Social Sciences Psychology 340 Fall 2006 Correlation Write down what (you think) a correlation is. Write down an example of a correlation Association between scores on two variables Age and coordination skills in children, as kids get older their motor coordination tends to improve Price and quality, generally the more expensive something is the higher in quality it is Correlation and Causality Correlational research design Correlation as a kind of research design (observational designs) Correlation as a statistical procedure Another thing to consider about correlation Correlations describe relationships between two variables, but DO NOT explain why the variables are related Another thing to consider about correlation Correlations describe relationships between two variables, but DO NOT explain why the variables are related Another thing to consider about correlation Correlations describe relationships between two variables, but DO NOT explain why the variables are related Relationships between variables Properties of a correlation Form (linear or non-linear) Direction (positive or negative) Strength (none, weak, strong, perfect) To examine this relationship you should: Make a scatterplot - a picture of the relationship Compute the Correlation Coefficient - a numerical description of the relationship Graphing Correlations Steps for making a scatterplot (scatter diagram) Draw axes and assign variables to them Determine range of values for each variable and mark on axes Mark a dot for each person’s pair of scores Scatterplot Scatterplot Scatterplot Scatterplot Scatterplot Scatterplot Imagine a line through the data points Form Direction Strength The strength of the relationship Spread around the line (note the axis scales) Correlation coefficient will range from -1 to +1 Zero means “no relationship” The farther the r is from zero, the stronger the relationship Strength The Correlation Coefficient Formulas for the correlation coefficient: The Corr