Hypothesis testing- correlation

Important terms:

Correlation coefficient = denoted by r , shows the direction and strength of the relationship.
Value are between -1 to +1.

Significance = denoted by p, value are 0.05 (5%) or 0.01(1%)

One tail test = for directional hypothesis (either +ve or -ve)

Two tail test = for non-directional hypothesis ( e.g. there exist a relationship between x and
y)

Example

Problem: todays newspaper says that students with higher IQ are more likely to be a
chain/heavy smoker.

Hypothesis:

Null: H(0) : you can either write:

There is a negative relationship(-ve) or no relationship between IQ and smoking.
Or you can write:

There is no positive (+ve) relationship between IQ and smoking.

Alternate: H(1): There is a positive (+ve) relationship between IQ and smoking.

Correlations
IQ SMOKE
IQ Pearson 1 .621**
Correlation
Sig. (1-tailed) .000
N 25 25
SMOK Pearson .621 **
1
E Correlation
Sig. (1-tailed) .000
N 25 25
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level
(1-tailed).
Analysis/Decision: The analysis above shows that r = 0.621 and p = 0.000. This indicates that
there is a somewhat strong positive relationship exist between IQ and smoking which is
significant at 1%. Therefore, we reject the null hypothesis and conclude that a student is
likely to smoke more if s/he has a higher IQ level.