Correlation as a Measure of Association

Correlation as a Measure of Association Summary

Dennise Reyes

BSHS/435

March 16, 2016

Laura Provencio

Correlation as a Measure of Association

        In general, a correlational study is a quantitative method of research in which you have two or more quantitative variables from the same group of subjects, and you are trying to determine if there is a relationship between the two variables, a similarity between them, not a difference between their means ("Correlational Research Guidelines Conducting Correlational Research ", 2015). When it becomes more of a measure of association it is to reveal the strength of all the data collected. The strength of association is what summarizes between two variables that are being tested, with both variables being the same, which are seen as the dependent variables. Some measure of association can also tell the direction of the relationship between two variables, referring to the independent variable. The goal is to find how strong is the relationship between the independent variables and dependent variable, meanwhile using the measure of association with all the data gathered.

Different Methods of Establishing Correlation Between Variables

        Correlations can be used to help make predictions, if two variables have been known in the past to correlate, then we can assume they will continue to correlate in the future ("Correlation: The Relationship of Two Variables ", 2016).  It is very important to understand the relationship between variables to draw the right conclusion from the statistics data gathered. There are different types of relationships between variables. As a researcher you should always establish how the variables are related, if there is a linear quadratic, inverse, logarithmic, or no correlation at all. All correlation between variables can be positive or negative. Positive correlation is an increase or one quantity which causes an increase in the outer; where as in negative correlation and increase in one variable will cause a decrease in the other.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Each Method

        The advantages of correlations different methods, is that it is used for research to be carried out either by using experiments or taking surveys. The major advantage is that a large number of people can be researched and the research conducted can have endless possibilities. Disadvantages of correlation are that the research answers may be biased. This may lead to unbalanced answers and results on the case study. This happens when people who are being surveyed don’t answer the questions truthfully and lie.