correlation

(noun)

A reciprocal, parallel or complementary relationship between two or more comparable objects.

Related Terms

Examples of correlation in the following topics:

  • Correlation and Causation

    • A correlation can be positive/direct or negative/inverse.
    • Ice cream consumption is positively correlated with incidents of crime.
    • It is important to not confound a correlation with a cause/effect relationship.
    • This diagram illustrates the difference between correlation and causation, as ice cream consumption is correlated with crime, but both are dependent on temperature.
    • Thus, the correlation between ice cream consumption and crime is spurious.

  • Aging and Health

    • For instance, maintaining a positive attitude has been shown to be correlated with better health among the elderly.
    • Older individuals with more positive attitudes and emotions engage in less risky behavior and have lower levels of stress, both of which are correlated with better health.

  • CONCOR

    • CONCOR begins by correlating each pair of actors (as we did above).
    • Each row of this actor-by-actor correlation matrix is then extracted, and correlated with each other row.
    • CONCOR then divides the data into two sets on the basis of these correlations.
    • The first panel shows the correlations of the cases.
    • We included the transpose, so these correlations are based on both sending and receiving of ties.

  • Valued relations

    • Pearson correlations are often used to summarize pair-wise structural equivalence because the statistic (called "little r") is widely used in social statistics.
    • Figure 13.4 shows the correlations of the ten Knoke organization's profiles of in and out information ties.
    • We are applying correlation, even though the Knoke data are binary.
    • The UCINET algorithm Tools>Similarities will calculate correlations for rows or columns.
    • Pearson correlations of rows (sending) for Knoke information network

  • Correlation between two networks with the same actors

    • Or, it may be that the two relations have nothing to do with one another (no correlation).
    • Figure 18.8 shows the results for the correlation between the Knoke information and monetary exchange networks.
    • The Pearson correlation is a standard measure when both matrices have valued relations measured at the interval level.
    • That is, what would the correlation (or other measure) be, on the average, if we matched random actors?
    • Association between Knoke information and Knoke monetary networks by QAP correlation

  • Introduction to comparing two relations for the same set of actors

    • The basic question of bivariate descriptive statistics applied to variables is whether scores on one attribute align (co-vary, correlate) with scores on another attribute, when compared across cases.
    • That is, do the relations correlate?
    • Is there a correlation between the ties that are present in one network, and the ties that are present in another?
    • This kind of question is analogous to the correlation between the scores on two variables in attribute analysis.

  • Social Correlates of Religion

    • There are correlations between the degree of religious belief in society and social factors like mortality rates, wealth and happiness.
    • The correlation between higher rates of happiness and religious affiliation has been demonstrated by several studies.
    • For instance, of 498 studies published in peer-reviewed journals, a large majority showed a positive correlation between religious commitment and higher levels of perceived well-being and self-esteem and lower levels of hypertension, depression and clinical delinquency.
    • Research indicates that in prosperous democracies, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy, and abortion.
    • The United States is almost always the most dysfunctional of the developed democracies, sometimes spectacularly so...The view of the U.S. as a 'shining city on the hill' to the rest of the world is falsified when it comes to basic measures of societal health. " In other words, the U.S., a theistic and prosperous nation, demonstrates that religiosity doesn't necessarily correlate with creating cultures that reduce death.

  • Analyzing Data and Drawing Conclusions

    • But they must be cautious not to mistake correlation for causation.
    • To better understand the difference between correlation and causation, consider this example.
    • This relationship is a correlation and it does not necessarily imply causation.
    • This may be a causal relationship, not just correlation.
    • This mock newscast gives three competing interpretations of the same survey findings and demonstrates the dangers of assuming that correlation implies causation.

  • Religion and Social Support

    • According to many social science studies, psychological well-being is positively correlated with religious engagement.
    • A review of 498 peer-review academic studies revealed that a large majority of them showed a positive correlation between religious commitment and higher levels of perceived well-being of self-esteem.
    • These same studies revealed a positive correlation between religious involvement and lower levels of hypertension, depression, and clinical delinquency.

  • The Role of Age

    • Age is an important factor in U.S. politics because there is a correlation between age and rates of political participation and because it is a determining factor in the issues people care about.
    • Given that there is a correlation between age and the issues relevant to those populations, some organizations have capitalized on these relationships in order to push political agendas.