Correlation

How it is used

Reported with a coefficient such as Pearson's r, which ranges from -1 to +1. Writers describe a positive, negative, strong, weak or significant correlation between two variables. The well-known warning is that correlation does not imply causation.

Example sentences

1. There was a moderate positive correlation between reading time and vocabulary scores (r = .42).

2. A correlation alone cannot show that one variable causes the other.

Common collocations

• positive correlation
• negative correlation
• strong correlation
• correlation between
• correlation coefficient

Related terms

• significantIn statistics, describing a result unlikely to be due to chance alone at a chosen level such as p < .05; in general use, large or important enough to matter.
• quantitativeDescribing research that collects numerical data and uses statistics to measure, compare or test relationships, often with larger samples.
• analysisDetailed examination of data or a text in order to identify patterns, relationships or meaning, often using statistical or qualitative techniques.
• dataFacts, numbers, recordings, texts or observations collected in a study and then analyzed to answer a research question.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

• correlation · Software Engineering
• correlation · Data Science & Analytics
• correlation · Psychology
• correlation · Statistics

More terms: Data and Analysis

• findings
• draw a conclusion
• thematic analysis
• account for
• interpret
• dataset
• mean
• standard deviation
• descriptive statistics
• p-value
• coding
• trend