correlations

• a research method that investigates a possible relationship between two co-variables, eg the age of adoption and IQ in Romanian orphan studies
• data collected from correlations is displayed on a scattergram, when analysing the data the researcher works out the correlation co-efficient- a value which measures the extent to which the numbers from each variable lie on a straight line when compared.
• correlation coefficients- negative numbers represent a negative correlation which means as one variable increases the other decreases, positive numbers represent a positive correlation which means both variables increase and decrease together. The further the number is from zero, the stronger the correlation is, zero would equal no correlation which means there is no relationship between the two variables.
• correlations are useful as they are an ethical way of measuring things as they cause no harm to the participants. They are different from experiments in this way as we can investigate variables that we could not manipulate under experimental conditions.
• correlations do not establish cause and effect like experiments do. this means we do not know if either of the variables cause the change in the other, and if they do which way round the cause and effect is,
• cannot establish cause and effect, statistical analysis can be conducted, however does not tell you anything on the meaning of the relationship
• writing a correlational hypothesis- non directional- there will be a relationship between intelligence score and the amount of items recalled, directional- there will be a significant positive relationship between intelligence score and the number of items recalled, null hypothesis- there will be no relationship between intelligence score and the number of items recalled