WU Correlations Questions

A correlation coefficient numerically reflects the relationship between two variables. For example, imagine that you conduct a study on college students and find an inverse correlation between marijuana smoking (variable a) and grade point average (variable b), meaning that those who smoke marijuana tend to have lower GPAs than those who do not and the more marijuana one smokes, the lower the GPA. You might conclude that smoking more marijuana lowers students’ grades.

However, with a correlation, you do not know cause and effect. For example, in this scenario did getting poor grades lead to marijuana use—or did marijuana use lead to poor grades? Identifying a relationship between variables is not the same as understanding the cause and effect.

For this Discussion, you explain the function of correlations and how understanding correlations may help you better understand a population.

LEARNING RESOURCES

Required Readings

• Salkind, N. J., Frey, B. B. (2020c). Statistics for people who (think they) hate statistics (7th ed.). Sage.
  • Chapter 5, “Computing Correlation Coefficients: Ice Cream and Crime” (pp. 75-102)

• Salkind, N.J. (2017a). Ice cream and crime: Computing correlation coefficients Download Ice cream and crime: Computing correlation coefficients[Data file]. Retrieved from https://edge.sagepub.com/salkind6e/student-resourc…Statistics for People Who (Think They) Hate Statistics by Salkind, N.J. Copyright 2016 by Sage College. Reprinted by permission of Sage College via the Copyright Clearance Center.
• Document: Correlation Statistics Worksheet Download Correlation Statistics Worksheet(Word document)
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  Post your responses to the following:
  • Explain how correlations function.
  • Explain how understanding correlations may help you better understand a population.