What is my independent variable for correlation?
Mon, 27 Oct 2008: A student writes: I was checking out Lab 6 and saw that you need to identify the independent and dependent variables of our research proposals… My study was a correlational study though, and I’m not sure if I can define an independent or dependent variable. Your TA Jeff replies: In some cases where correlational analyses are used, the theoretical basis for the research allows one to come up with a ‘predictor variable’ and an ‘outcome variable’. For example, if someone were interested in self esteem and problematic internet usage, they are probably thinking that the most reasonable explanation for such a correlation would be that low self-esteem encourages a greater reliance on the internet for social interaction. Sure it’s possible that internet usage causes low self-esteem, but that seems a less likely scenario than self esteem resulting in problematic internet usage. Therefore, according to your theory, we could probably call self esteem the predictor variable, an
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