A correlation analysis is a statistical procedure that evaluates the association between two sets of variables. The association between variables can be linear or nonlinear. In communication research, however, correlation analyses are mostly used to evaluate linear relationships. Sets of variables may include one or many variables. Associations between two variables (two sets of one
An illusory correlation occurs when a person perceives a relationship between two variables that are not in fact correlated. In the first study to demonstrate this phenomenon, participants were presented with pairs of words from two stimulus lists. Each word from the first list was paired an equal number of times with each word from
Does high school grade point average (GPA) predict college performance? Does reading to a child help future school performance? Researchers, legislators, business people, teachers, and parents are all interested in how variables are related. This relationship is the general way in which different values of one variable are associated with different values of a second