1. Correlational Research Goal: Describe the relationship between two variables in terms of: – Direction – Strength Pearson Correlation Coefficient – -1  0  +1

2. Testing the significance of a correlation – Is the correlation significantly different from zero? Null hypothesis: The correlation between Social Support and Life Satisfaction is not significantly different from zero. Alternative hypothesis: The correlation between Social Support and Life Satisfaction is significantly different from zero

3. Conclusion: A significant correlation between Social Support and Life Satisfaction was observed, r (3) =.884, p <.05.

4. The Squared Correlation r r 2 0 0.1.01.2.04.3.09.4.16.5.25.6.36.7.49.8.64.9.81 1.0 1.0 The squared correlation provides the proportion of overlap between the two variables.

5. Correlation and Cause and Effect Requirements for a conclusion regarding cause and effect: – Time-Order relationship Cause  Effect Can’t know which variable occurred first. – No other variable is responsible for the relationship. The Third Variable Problem

6. Survey Methods Types of questions 1.Open-ended 2.Close-ended 3.Partially open-ended (“Other” is added as an alternative response) 4.Rating Scale – Likert rating scale. To what degree does the respondent agree with a statement.

7. Likert-type Item “How much do you agree with the following statement?” “I plan to dedicate the rest of my life to learning more about statistics.” 1-------------2------------3------------4------------5 Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Disagree Agree

8. Reversed Likert-type Item “How much do you agree with the following statement?” “My hatred for statistics extends to the very core of my being.” 1-------------2------------3------------4------------5 Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Disagree Agree

9. Types of items to avoid Loaded question – Includes non-neutral or emotionally laden terms – Ex. What is your opinion of the hideous new statue? Leading question – Attempts to influence the response – Example. Shouldn’t first-year students be allowed to bring a car to campus? Double barreled question – Asks for more than one piece of information in a single item.

10. Sampling Techniques Probability Sampling – Random selection – Stratified random sample – Cluster sampling Non-Probability sampling – Convenience sampling – Quota sampling