Bshs 435 - Correlation as a Measure of Association Paper

Correlation as a measure of association paper

BSHS/435 Research and Statistics in Human Services

Correlation as a measure of association paper

There are several types of studies that scientist can use during the research process. This paper will describe correlation as a measure of association. The two different methods that can be used to establish the correlation between variables and examples of each of them. Then I will explain the advantages and disadvantages of using each method and where each must be applied. Discuss circumstances and examples in which a researcher may want to establish correlation. Finally, I will discuss the article that I found that used correlation.

Measure of association

Before discussing the correlation as a measure of association, it should be understood what exactly correlation is. Correlation is the relationship between two variables. The variables can be independent which does the influencing and dependent which is the outcome of being influenced by the independent variable. Example of this would be an independent variable growing up in a home with parents who are addicted to drugs and use narcotics openly. The dependent variable would be the children growing up and becoming drug addicts themselves. Does growing up in a drug addiction home make it more acceptable to abuse narcotics? Measures of association describe the strength of the variables relationship or how closely the direction of the variables are related (Monette 2011). When using correlation as a measure of association researchers test the data they collected to determine the nature of the relationships between each variable. An example would be the article that I found last week they wanted to see if there was a relationship between Money Mismanagement in Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans and they found out that there was.

Pearson’s correlation and regression

Two different methods of establishing correlation between variables that Pearson used are correlation and regression. When researchers use the correlation design method they are trying to determine and explain the relationship between variables or predict an outcome of the variables. The regression method comes into play when researches select a group based on seeing a trend of extreme scores and determine if they can do better or worse on the posttest then the pretest (Pearson 2012). Both methods can use scatterplots, surveys and SBSS to help calculate the outcome.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages of using correlation research is that it’s ideal when trying to determine the relationships between variables. Disadvantages