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Scatterplots and Correlation: Some Notes

Scatterplots can show linear or curved relationships between explanatory and response variables, as well as outliers. Correlation measures the direction and strength of a linear relationship between two quantitative variables on a scale of -1 to 1. A correlation of 0 indicates no linear relationship, while values closer to -1 or 1 show stronger linear relationships. Correlation only describes linear relationships and is sensitive to outliers, so additional statistics like means and standard deviations should also be reported.

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34 views1 page

Scatterplots and Correlation: Some Notes

Scatterplots can show linear or curved relationships between explanatory and response variables, as well as outliers. Correlation measures the direction and strength of a linear relationship between two quantitative variables on a scale of -1 to 1. A correlation of 0 indicates no linear relationship, while values closer to -1 or 1 show stronger linear relationships. Correlation only describes linear relationships and is sensitive to outliers, so additional statistics like means and standard deviations should also be reported.

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teachopensource
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Scatterplots and Correlation | SHUBLEKA

   

Scatterplots

• Explanatory vs Response Variable


• Form = Linear or curved relationships; clusters.
• Direction = positive vs negative association if the scatterplot has a clear direction
• Strength = how close the points lie to a simple form such as a line
• Striking deviations: outliers in either or both variables
ASSOCIATION DOES NOT IMPLY CAUSATION

Correlation:

Variables x and y for n individuals. Correlation measures the direction and strength of a relationship.

1 ⎛ xi − x ⎞ ⎛ yi − y ⎞
r= ∑ ⎜ ⎟⎜ ⎟
n − 1 ⎝ sx ⎠ ⎜⎝ s y ⎟⎠ = an average of the products of the standardized observations in x
and in y for n individuals.

Properties

9 Correlation makes no use of the distinction between explanatory and response variables
9 Requires that both variables be quantitative
9 The correlation does not change when we change the units of measurements of x, y, or both
9 The correlation r itself has no units; it is just a number
9 Positive r indicates positive association and negative r indicates negative association
9 The correlation r is always a number between -1 and 1. Values near 0 indicate weak linear
relationship. The strength of the relationship increases as r moves away from zero toward -1 or 1.
The extreme values -1 and 1 occur when the points in a scatterplot lie exactly along a straight line
9 Correlation measures the strength of only linear relationships. It does not describe curved
relationships, no matter how strong they are.
9 Like the mean and standard deviation, the correlation is not resistant to outlying observations.

Î Correlation alone is not a complete description of bivariate data. Always include the means and
standard deviations.

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