Corellation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Corellation - prove ExampleIf two variables are correlated, it still does not mean that one variable causes the other to exchange as it does even if the statement makes sense (Jaccard & Becker, 2002 para. 1, What is the difference, n.d.). If one action causes another, then they are most for certain correlated therefore causation causes coefficient of correlation and not the other way around (Deutsch, 2005 para. 1, What is the difference, n.d.). Moreover, in use correlational data, causal inferences cannot be made even if we obtain a perfect correlation which may be a +1.00 or -1.00 (Myers & Hansen, 2006). If causal inferences are to be drawn from correlational analyses, extreme vigilance must be made (Jaccard & Becker, 2002).Actually, there are four possible reasons as to why two variables X and Y might be correlated. Four possibilities are that (1) X causes Y, (2) Y causes X, (3) X and Y affect each other which is known as bidirectional causation, or (4) some additional var iable(s) causes both X and Y (Jaccard & Becker, 2002 Myers & Hansen, 2006).To further illustrate these possibilities, allow us explore some examples. For illustration purposes, let us say we find a positive correlation between the number of hours college students spend operative for pay and the number of campus organizations college students belong to, it is unlikely that going causes students to join organizations or that membership in organizations causes students to work but the correlation between hours of work and group membership is probably attributable to students desire to fall upon and related personality characteristics (Jaccard & Becker, 2002). There are also examples wherein the causal relationship underlying a correlation is ambiguous such as the correlation between the amount of violent television a babe watches and childs aggressiveness. In this case, there are four possible