Which of the following values of Pearson’s r indicates the strongest association between two variables?

Question

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

Question restatement: Which of the following values of Pearson’s r indicates the strongest association between two variables? Note: The provided answer indicates r = -.97, but the answer options are not present here, so we will reason about the concept.

Key concept: The strength of a linear relationship in Pearson’s r is determined by the magnitude (absolute value) of r, not its sign. Values near 1 or -1 indicate a strong relationship, while values near 0 indicate a weak or no linear relationship.

Option analysis (conceptual, since actual options are missing):
- If a value has an absolute value close to 1 (e.g., |r| = 0.95, 0.97, or 0.99), that represents a very strong linear association, positive if the sign is positive, negative if the sign is negative.
- A value like r = 0.3 or r = -0.2 would indicate a weak to moderate association, far from the strongest possible relationship.
- A value of r = 0 or r = -0 would indicate no linear relationship.
- Between two values with different signs but similar magnitudes, the sign only tells the direction, not the strength; for strength, compare magnitudes.

Reasoning about the specific candidate r = -.97: A correlation of -0.97 has a large magnitude (|r| = 0.97), which is very close to 1 in absolute terms, indicating a very strong linear association despite the negative direction. In typical comparison with other plausible r-values (e.g., -0.8, -0.5, 0.6), -0.97 has the greater absolute value and thus the strongest relationship.

Common misconceptions to watch out for: 
- Mistaking the sign for strength: a positive and a negative correlation can be equally strong if their magnitudes are the same. Here, magnitude is the key for strength.
- Thinking that a larger numeric value always means stronger strength without considering the absolute value; -0.95 is about as strong as 0.95 in magnitude, just opposite in direction.
- Assuming that a value near zero indicates strength; in fact, near zero means weak or no linear association.

Summary: Strength is tied to how close |r| is to 1. A value like r = -.97, having |r| = 0.97, represents a very strong linear relationship, stronger in magnitude than many other common r-values, regardless of sign.

PSYC20009_2025_SM2 Quiz for Correlation: Part 2

Which of the following values of Pearson’s r indicates the strongest association between two variables?

View Explanation

Log in for full answers

Similar Questions

Of the following, the correlation coefficient that indicates the weakest relationship between the two variables being measured is ______________.

The correlation in between mobile usage and exam score of a person found to be -2.2. What is your inference from the above statement.

The correlation between temperature in ◦F and age in weeks was r = −0.70. If we converted the temperature to ◦C and age to months, what would the 29 correlation be?

Their correlation coefficients will be the same, since the correlation coefficient is unitless.

r = −0.85

r = −0.03

More Practical Tools for Students Powered by AI Study Helper

Homework AI Solver

Stylized AI Paper Writer

Plagiarism Checker Assistant

Citation AI Academic Writing Tool

In-Class Translation Assistant

AI Note Generator

AI Quiz Answers

Past Exam Questions from University Test Bank

Smart Practice Assistant

Adaptive Practice

Making Your Study Simpler