Correlation and

Dietary Intake
Validation of
AssessmentLecture 6
February 18,
2020
Assessing relationships
with continuous
variables
Non-
Samples Parametric test
parame
tric
test
2 Pearson Spearma
continuo n
us correlati correlati
variables on on
2+ Non-
Linear
Continuo parametric
regression
us regression
variables
Correlati
on
■ Measures strength of a relationship
between two continuous variables and
also direction of the association
– Calculates Coefficient of Correlation
(r)
■ Attempts to create a line of best fit through
data of the two variables
■ r value: indicates how far data points are
from the line of best fit
■ Not to be confused with R2: Coefficient of
Determination
– proportion of the variance in the
dependent variable that can be
predicted from the independent
r
value
■ Can be between -1 and 1
– 0 represents no correlation
– +/- 1 represents perfect
correlation
– Negative value indicates negative
relationship
– df = n – 2
■ Reporting results of correlation analysis:
– r = value, p = value
Residuals (also called
error)

Observed data point (xi,

yi) Residual = yi -
ypp,
Predicted data point (x
yp)

http://www.mathwords.com/r/residua
l.htm
Scatterpl
ot
Thought
Experiment
Assumptions of
Correlation Analysis
■ Variables are continuous
■ Variables are approximately normally
distributed
■ Linear relationship between your two
variables
■ No extreme outliers
Linear
Relationship
Effect of
outliers
Strength of
Association
Coefficient, r
Strength
Positive Negative
of
Associati
on
Small 0.1 to 0.3 -0.1 to
-0.3
Medium >0.3 to >-0.3 to
0.5 -0.5
Large >0.5 to >-0.5 to
1.0 -1.0
Outp
ut

How would you report this result in

writing?
Outp
ut
Correlation does not
represent slope
Axis order is irrelevant
in a simple
correlation analysis
Association vs.
Causation
■ Correlation and regression analysis
assesses whether variables are
related or associated in some way
■ It is incorrect to conclude that a
significant result
implies a causal relationship between
the variables
Baddour et al.
Article
■ What was the purpose of this
study?
■ What was the sample size?
■ What statistical tests were used?
■ What were the conclusions of the
paper?
Reading for next
week
■ Tsilas et al. CMAJ
2017