How do I write a Results section for Correlation?
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How do I write a Results section for Correlation?
- The report of a correlation should include:
- r - the strength of the relationship
- p value - the significance level. "Significance" tells you the probability that the line is due to chance. More specifically, the "Significance" represents a test of whether the line is different from a flat line (e.g. a flat line would be represented by a Pearson correlation = 0). Any p-values less than .05 indicates that the result is not due to chance.
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- Some researchers also include:
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- n - the sample size
- Descriptive statistics of each variable
- R2 - the coefficient of determination. This is the amount of variance explained by another variable. You can calculate R2 by squaring the Pearson Correlation. If you multiple this by 100, you converted the value into a percentage.
- If your correlation is .352, then .352 x .352 = .124. So the variance explained is 12.4%. This also means that 87.6% of the variance is unexplained since 100 -.124 = .876. In terms of percentage of variance explained, small is 1%, medium is 9%, and large is 25%.
- Examples:
- There was a positive correlation between the two variables, r = .35, p = < .001.
- There was a positive correlation between height (M = 55.39 SD = 16.33) and weight (M = 145.22 SD = 15.54) , r = .35, p = < .001, n = 100.
- There was a positive correlation between the two variables, r = .35, p = < .001, with a R2 = .124
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