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Low Correlation Pitfalls

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Abstract

The product moment correlation plays an important part in social and psychological research. It indicates how close real-world data lie around a regression line of the form E(Y| X = x) = a + bx. High correlations, near +1 or −1, are obtained if there is a high concentration of the data around this line. These are indicative for a strong linear relationship between the variables X and Y. Low correlations point to the absence of a linear relationship between the two variables in question.

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© 1988 Willem E. Saris and Irmtraud N. Gallhofer

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van Wittenboer, G.d. (1988). Low Correlation Pitfalls. In: Saris, W.E., Gallhofer, I.N. (eds) Sociometric Research. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19054-6_10

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