Correlation Research

1. Correlation Research Examines relationships between two or more variables.

2. CORRELATION • Direction: is the relationship positive or negative? • r = + 1.00 (perfect positive relationship between two variables) • r = 0 (no relationship) • r = - 1.00 (perfect negative relationship between two variables)

3. CORRELATION • Magnitude: what is the strength of the relationship? • r = > .80 (+/-) “very strong” • r = > .60 (+/-) “strong to moderate” • r = > .40 (+/-) “moderate” • r = > .20 (+/-) “weak” • r = < .20 (+/-) “weak to none”

5. Relationship studies tend to be exploratory in nature, where researcher wants to determine if a relationship does, in fact, exist between two variables. Prediction studies widely used in education and social science research because of the importance of predicting behavior of students etc. Two types of correlation studies

6. Cooper, Lindsay, Nye, & Greathouse (1998). Relationships among attitudes about homework, amount of homework assigned and completed, and student achievement.

7. Research Questions • Do teachers, students, and parents differ in their beliefs about amount of homework assigned by teachers and completed by students? • Are teachers’, students’, and parents’ attitudes about homework consistent and related to one another?

8. Research Questions (cont’d) • Do different relationships exist between the two types of achievement measures (amount assigned, amount completed) and homework behaviors? • Are teachers’ and students’ attitudes about homework related to amount of homework assigned and completed?

9. Research Questions (cont’d) • Do relationships exist between teachers’ and students’ attitudes toward homework and student achievement?

10. Data collection • Standardized test data and teacher-assigned course grades • Survey instrument: • Homework Process Inventory • Completed by teachers, students, and parents • 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th grades

11. RESULTS

12. Teachers’, students’, and parents’ attitudes about homework were consistent with one another. Positive relationships found between the portion of homework completed and students’ achievement. Positive attitudes toward homework were associated with more completed homework and higher class grades (somewhat different patterns of relationships for lower- vs. upper-grades’ students).

13. Critique of the Harris et al. study • What are the strengths of this research? • What weaknesses do you find in the research? • What is the next research question to follow from the findings of this research?

14. Waterman & Zellman (1998) Understanding the impact of parent school involvement on children’s educational outcomes.

15. Research Questions • (1) what is the relationship among family involvement measures? • (2) what demographic characteristics are associated with parent involvement? • (3) How important is parent involvement in predicting children’s outcomes?

16. What is the relationship of parent involvement to student achievement? • Need to look at parenting characteristics: • parenting style • parental enthusiasm

17. Data gathered on: • Parents: • School involvement (school visits; homework help) • Enthusiasm • Students: • IQ (Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test) • behaviors • Teacher-child Rating Scale • interaction with mothers (videotaped)

18. RESULTS • Relationships among parent involvement measures are not strong. School-site involvement unrelated to homework involvement. • Single African-American and Latino parents less involved in schools. • Parent enthusiasm predicts school involvement.

19. RESULTS (2) • Positive parenting style predicts child achievement and school involvement. • Family characteristics and child IQ predicts reading achievement. • Parent school involvement, enthusiasm, and parenting style related to reading achievement.

20. Cautions • A correlational study: A high level of parent involvement may not cause higher student achievement. • Small sample size. • Sample consisted of volunteers.