Understanding Correlational Research- Identifying Relations Without Inferring Causation

Understanding Correlational Research- Identifying Relations Without Inferring Causation

It is important to identify other confounding variables that may have an effect on the variables under study (Stangor, 2015). The post cites an example of a report that gives room for a confounding variable. Hire our assignment writing services in case your assignment is devastating you.

Article Topic: “Violent Video Games Can Increase Aggression”

The claim: The article claims that violent video games can increase aggression habits. The article reports studies from two main studies that conducted an empirical study on two samples of college students; 227 students and 210 students (American Psychological Association, 2000). The studies also claim that the time spent playing video games was associated with lower college grades.

The predictor variable and the outcome variable: In both studies, the predictor variable was “Number of Hours spent playing video games,” and the outcome variable was “actual aggressive behavior.”

The correlation: The correlation between the predictor and the outcome variable is positive. The correlation is determined from the key findings that indicate that an increased number of hours of playing violent video games caused increased habits of aggression. An increase in one variable that leads to an increase in the other variable implies a positive correlation (Stangor, 2015).

The Proposed spurious (third) variable or extraneous variable: For the two studies, an extraneous variable that could also explain the aggressive behavior is “provocation.”

The connection between the spurious/extraneous variable and the outcome and predictor variables: The condition an individual is subjected in can also explain the aggressive behavior. In this case, the aggressive behavior may not be wholly due to the time spent playing violent video games but due to provocation. When an individual is provoked, they may tend to be aggressive regardless of whether they have played violent video games or not. Therefore, provocation can be an extraneous variable.

URLs for the media post: https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2000/04/video-games

References

American Psychological Association. (APA). (2000). Violent Video Games can Increase aggression. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2000/04/video-games

Stangor, C. (2015). Research methods for the behavioral sciences (5th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.

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Correlational research describes relations among variables but cannot indicate that one variable causes something to occur to another variable. Rather, a statistically significant correlation coefficient indicates a relation between a predictor variable and an outcome variable.

Understanding Correlational Research- Identifying Relations Without Inferring Causation

In correlational research, if there is a statistically significant correlation coefficient between two variables, you want to know that the relation truly exists. This goal is challenging to achieve because other variables that you are not studying may complicate the study and the interpretation of the results.

You may find a spurious relation in which one common causal variable, sometimes referred to as a third variable, is responsible for the observed relation between the predictor variable and the outcome variable. Imagine seeing a news story reporting the findings of a study claiming that children under the age of 17 who viewed R-rated movies showed a greater likelihood of developing a smoking habit. A third variable that could explain both the predictor and outcome variables is permissive parenting. Permissive parents may allow children to view R-rated movies when they are under the age of 17. In addition, permissive parents may not attend to their children’s whereabouts enough to be aware of their smoking habit, or they may not discipline the children for smoking. Therefore, you cannot conclude that the movie viewing caused the smoking habit. The permissive parenting may have led to the children’s movie viewing habit and their smoking habits.

You may also identify extraneous variables that might influence the outcome variable, but unlike the spurious correlation described above, these variables do not relate to or influence the predictor variable. For example, consider a reported correlation that the number of books in a person’s home (predictor variable) is related to their college GPA (outcome). An extraneous variable could be, for example, a person’s IQ (intelligence quotient) score. The higher IQ might be related to a higher college GPA but not necessarily related to the number of books found in a person’s home. There are additional examples of spurious relations and extraneous variables on pages 174–176 of your course text.