What Is Correlation Research Is
What Is Correlation Research Is
What Is Correlation Research Is
Khresna Dirgantara
NPM : A1B019034
Class : 5B
Correlational designs provide an opportunity for you to predict scores and explain the
relationship among variables.
Correlational designs provide an opportunity for you to predict scores and explain the
relationship among variables. In correlational research designs, investigators use the correlation
statistical test to describe and measure the degree of association (or relationship) between two or
more variables or sets of scores. In this design, the researchers do not attempt to control or
manipulate the variables as in an experiment; instead, they relate, using the correlation statistic,
two or more scores for each person (e.g., a student motivation and a student achievement score
for each individual).
A correlation is a statistical test to determine the tendency or pattern for two (or more) variables
or two sets of data to vary consistently. In the case of only two variables, this means that two
variables share common variance, or they co-vary together. To say that two variables co-vary has
a somewhat complicated mathematical basis.
Co-vary means that we can predict a score on one variable with knowledge about the
individual’s score on another variable
The basic design for correlational research is straightforward. First, the researcher specifies the
problem by asking a question about the relationship between the variables of interest. The
variables selected for investigation are generally based on a theory, previous research, or the
researcher’s observations.
You use this design when you seek to relate two or more variables to see if they influence each
other, such as the relationship between teachers who endorse developmentally appropriate
practices and their use of the whole-language approach to reading instruction (Ketner, Smith, &
Parnell, 1997). This design allows you to predict an outcome, such as the prediction that ability,
quality of schooling, student motivation, and academic coursework influence student
achievement (Anderson & Keith, 1997). You also use this design when you know and can apply
statistical knowledge based on calculating the correlation statistical test.
The history of correlational research draws on the themes of the origin and development of the
correlation statistical test and the procedures for using and interpreting the test. Statisticians first
developed the procedures for calculating the correlation statistics in the late 19th century
(Cowles, 1989).
In presenting ideas about correlations, Pearson not only articulated the formula for a correlation,
but he also presented concepts familiar to quantitative researchers today, such as the importance
of sample size, the value of precise measurement, and the use of unbiased samples. However,
Pearson was only one of several British biometricians around the turn of the century who refined
and extended ideas about correlations (De Landsheere, 1988). In 1897, Yule (Pearson’s student)
developed solutions for correlating two, three, and four variables.
Instead of simply relating variables—two variables at a time or a complex set such as in our last
example—in a prediction design, researchers seek to anticipate outcomes by using certain
variables as predictors, that’s is the prediction design.
The purpose of a prediction research design is to identify variables that will predict an
outcome or criterion. In this form of research, the investigator identifies one or more predictor
variable and a criterion (or outcome) variable. A predictor variable is a variable used to make a
forecast about an outcome in correlational research. In the case of predicting teacher success in a
school, the predictor may be “mentoring” during teacher training or “years of experience
teaching.” In much prediction research, investigators often use more than one predictor variable
Also The purpose of correlational research is to assess the magnitude (absolute size between
zero and one) and direction of a relationship (positive or negative) between two or more
variables. The examination of the magnitude of the relationship occurs with a statistical test. In a
correlational study, you might see Mr. Snowman and Mrs. Hollingsworth looking at the
relationship between the number of days in attendance and socioeconomic status. Perhaps they
find that as the number of days in attendance for the kindergarten children increases, their
household socioeconomic status (SES) decreases. That is all they can say about the relationship
—that there is a negative (one increases while the other decreases) relationship between
attendance and SES.
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