Correlation Analysis: Looking for an Association between Two Variables

To be able to: ■

understand the purpose and describe what is a correlation;

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describe the basic idea behind a correlation;

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understand the roles of strength and directionality in describing the relationship between two variables;

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describe the data assumptions for correlation analysis;

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describe what is homoscedasticity;

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understand when to use Pearson, Spearman, and partial correlations;

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conduct correlation analysis in SPSS; and

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interpret and report significant and nonsignificant correlations.