Question 1: Define what a correlational study is in psychology.

Answer: A correlational study is research that examines the relationship between two variables to see if they are associated, without influencing or changing either variable.

Question 2: Explain why psychologists might choose to use a correlational study instead of an experiment.

Answer: Psychologists might use a correlational study when it is not possible or ethical to manipulate variables, or when they want to observe naturally occurring relationships between variables.

Question 3: Describe a scenario where a psychologist might investigate the correlation between hours of sleep and exam performance.

Answer: A psychologist could collect data on students’ sleep hours and their exam scores to see if there is a relationship between the amount of sleep and performance, without changing students’ sleep habits.

Question 4: What does a positive correlation between two variables indicate?

Answer: A positive correlation indicates that as one variable increases, the other variable also tends to increase.

Question 5: What does a negative correlation between two variables indicate?

Answer: A negative correlation indicates that as one variable increases, the other variable tends to decrease.

Question 6: Identify a potential problem with relying solely on correlational data to understand relationships between variables.

Answer: Correlation does not imply causation, meaning that just because two variables are related does not mean one causes the other to change.

Question 7: Explain what is meant by 'correlation coefficient' and what the values tell us.

Answer: A correlation coefficient is a number between -1 and +1 that indicates the strength and direction of the relationship between two variables. Values close to +1 or -1 show a strong relationship, while values near 0 show a weak or no relationship.

Question 8: Imagine a researcher finds a correlation coefficient of +0.85 between daily exercise and happiness levels. What does this suggest?

Answer: This suggests there is a strong positive relationship, meaning that as exercise increases, happiness levels tend to increase as well.

Question 9: Sketch a simple scatter diagram that would show a perfect positive correlation between two variables.

Answer: A set of points arranged in a straight line slanting upwards from left to right, indicating that higher values of one variable are associated with higher values of the other.

Question 10: Sketch a simple scatter diagram that would show no correlation between two variables.

Answer: A random scatter of points with no discernible pattern, indicating no relationship between the variables.

Question 11: Describe how a psychologist might collect data to study the relationship between screen time and sleep quality.

Answer: They could ask participants to record their daily screen time and rate their sleep quality over a period of time, then analyze the data to see if there is a correlation.

Question 12: Sketch a graph that shows a weak negative correlation between two variables, such as hours spent studying and leisure time.

Answer: A scatter plot with points loosely clustered along a downward-sloping line, indicating that more study time tends to be associated with less leisure time, but with some variability.