{"id":6657,"date":"2017-08-15T02:26:46","date_gmt":"2017-08-15T02:26:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ibpsych.themantic-education.com\/?p=6657"},"modified":"2020-09-22T04:34:38","modified_gmt":"2020-09-21T19:34:38","slug":"lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/08\/15\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\/","title":{"rendered":"Lesson Idea: Thinking critically about correlations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>When looking at correlational studies and quasi-experiments it&#8217;s important, I think, to allow students to make the obvious conclusion first, which is generally one of causation. But a big part of the IB Psychology course is helping them to understand the mantra:\u00a0<em>correlation does not mean causation.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>This activity idea works well as a follow-up to the other activity about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/08\/15\/lesson-idea-explaining-the-difference-between-causation-and-correlation\/\">causation versus. correlation<\/a>.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I&#8217;ve found the following activity to be a great one for introducing the importance of critical thinking about studies as well as giving students some practice at it. As all my favourites, it takes minimal prep and has maximum effect.<\/p>\n<p>In my workbook I have the following correlational summaries from studies for students to read and discuss in small groups. Their task is to come up with two conclusions from each of the correlational results. The first conclusion will probably be causational, but then they need to think more deeply about the results and offer an\u00a0<strong>alternative-explanation<\/strong>. They might offer an example of <strong>bidirectional ambiguity,\u00a0<\/strong>or they could come up with an alternative variable that might explain the relationship. I give them ten minutes and then we discuss as a class.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">DOWNLOAD THE WHOLE INTRODUCTION TO PSYCH UNIT PLAN AND RESOURCES <a href=\"https:\/\/store.themantic-education.com\/collections\/ib-psychology\/products\/free-preview-ib-psychology-teacher-support-pack-introduction-to-psychology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">HERE<\/a><\/h3>\n<blockquote><p><em>Fast finishers can be extended by identifying if the studies are examples of positive or negative correlations.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<hr \/>\n<h2><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">The Studies<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><u style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Brain injury and aggression (EXAMPLE)<\/u><\/p>\n<p>One study found that soldiers from the Vietnam War who had injury to the front part of their brains (the frontal lobe) were more aggressive than war veterans who didn\u2019t have an injury to that part of the brain.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>Explanation 1: maybe damage to the frontal lobe makes people aggressive.<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<li><em><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Explanation 2: perhaps more aggressive soldiers were more likely to experience a head injury in battle (because they were more willing to be confrontational).<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b><u>Violent TV and Crime\u00a0<\/u><\/b><\/p>\n<p>Studies have shown that the more violent TV a child watches when they\u2019re younger, the more likely they are to commit a crime when they\u2019re adults. (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2002\/03\/29\/us\/a-study-finds-more-links-between-tv-and-violence.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">More info<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>TV and Attention <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For every one hour on average that a three year old watches, they are 10% more likely to have attentional problems when they\u2019re aged seven. So a three year old child that watches four hours of TV on average, is 40% more likely to have attentional problems than a three year old child that watches one. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=BoT7qH_uVNo\">More info<\/a> &#8211; Also see page 424 of\u00a0<em>IB Psychology: A Student&#8217;s Guide\u00a0<\/em>for TV and attention studies on kids).<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Fish and depression <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>At least one study has shown that the more fish consumed on average per person in a country, the lower the rate of depression. Japan has very low rates of depression, for instance, when compared to countries that eat less fish like New Zealand.<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Meditation and brain development<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>People who meditate for longer have more developed prefrontal cortices (the parts of the brain that help us concentrate). (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/alicegwalton\/2015\/02\/09\/7-ways-meditation-can-actually-change-the-brain\/#46f0f15c1465\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">More info<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Candy and Crime<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One study carried out in the UK found that children who ate candy every day were more likely to commit crimes when they were older. (<a href=\"http:\/\/content.time.com\/time\/health\/article\/0,8599,1927347,00.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">More info<\/a>)<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>It&#8217;s another simple one, but I like it.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;ve got another good example, please add it to the comments. Or if you are struggling to see two explanations, don&#8217;t be afraid to ask.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Additional Activity<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Assign one study per group of students.<\/li>\n<li>Design an experiment that would test to see if there is a causal relationship between the two variables correlated in the study.<\/li>\n<li>Consider the following:\n<ul>\n<li>what is the IV and DV?<\/li>\n<li>what are the potential extraneous variables?<\/li>\n<li>how would the IV be manipulated and the DV measured?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>For some studies (e.g. correlating factors over time), students might have to hypothesize possible explanations for the correlation and design an experiment to test that explanation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When looking at correlational studies and quasi-experiments it&#8217;s important, I think, to allow students to make the obvious conclusion first, which is generally one of causation. But a big part of the IB Psychology course is helping them to understand the mantra:\u00a0correlation does not mean causation.\u00a0 This activity idea works well as a follow-up to the other activity about causation &#8230; <\/p>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/08\/15\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6675,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rs_blank_template":"","rs_page_bg_color":"#ffffff","slide_template_v7":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-methodology"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lesson Idea: Thinking critically about correlations | The IB Psychology Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Teach students to think critically about studies with this activity idea that challenges them to come up with alternative explanations for correlational results. Download the complete IB Psychology unit plan and resources now.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/08\/15\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lesson Idea: Thinking critically about correlations | The IB Psychology Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Teach students to think critically about studies with this activity idea that challenges them to come up with alternative explanations for correlational results. Download the complete IB Psychology unit plan and resources now.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/08\/15\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The IB Psychology Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/themanticeducation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-08-15T02:26:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-21T19:34:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/correlation.png?fit=790%2C349&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"790\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"349\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Travis Dixon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Travis Dixon\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/15\\\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/15\\\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Travis Dixon\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/de20f76afd22df7d71e141ab515c0827\"},\"headline\":\"Lesson Idea: Thinking critically about correlations\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-15T02:26:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-21T19:34:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/15\\\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":644,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/15\\\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/correlation.png?fit=790%2C349&ssl=1\",\"articleSection\":[\"Research Methodology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/15\\\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/15\\\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\\\/\",\"name\":\"Lesson Idea: Thinking critically about correlations | The IB Psychology Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/15\\\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/15\\\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/correlation.png?fit=790%2C349&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-15T02:26:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-21T19:34:38+00:00\",\"description\":\"Teach students to think critically about studies with this activity idea that challenges them to come up with alternative explanations for correlational results. Download the complete IB Psychology unit plan and resources now.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/15\\\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/15\\\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/15\\\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/correlation.png?fit=790%2C349&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/correlation.png?fit=790%2C349&ssl=1\",\"width\":790,\"height\":349,\"caption\":\"Understanding that correlation does not mean causation is an important outcome in IB Psychology.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/15\\\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lesson Idea: Thinking critically about correlations\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/\",\"name\":\"IB Psychology\",\"description\":\"by Themantic Education\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Themantic Education\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/them-ed-logo.png?fit=1465%2C1858&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/them-ed-logo.png?fit=1465%2C1858&ssl=1\",\"width\":1465,\"height\":1858,\"caption\":\"Themantic Education\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/facebook.com\\\/themanticeducation\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/youtube.com\\\/c\\\/themanticeducation\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/de20f76afd22df7d71e141ab515c0827\",\"name\":\"Travis Dixon\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6ee7465953db9edfb653802c2423ee0be4456f3cf73a4ae4032bdda760a9a5e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6ee7465953db9edfb653802c2423ee0be4456f3cf73a4ae4032bdda760a9a5e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6ee7465953db9edfb653802c2423ee0be4456f3cf73a4ae4032bdda760a9a5e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Travis Dixon\"},\"description\":\"Travis Dixon has been teaching for over 20 years and is an experienced IB Psychology, History and English teacher, author, workshop leader and examiner\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/author\\\/tdixon\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lesson Idea: Thinking critically about correlations | The IB Psychology Blog","description":"Teach students to think critically about studies with this activity idea that challenges them to come up with alternative explanations for correlational results. Download the complete IB Psychology unit plan and resources now.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/08\/15\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lesson Idea: Thinking critically about correlations | The IB Psychology Blog","og_description":"Teach students to think critically about studies with this activity idea that challenges them to come up with alternative explanations for correlational results. Download the complete IB Psychology unit plan and resources now.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/08\/15\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\/","og_site_name":"The IB Psychology Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/facebook.com\/themanticeducation\/","article_published_time":"2017-08-15T02:26:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-09-21T19:34:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":790,"height":349,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/correlation.png?fit=790%2C349&ssl=1","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Travis Dixon","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Travis Dixon","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/08\/15\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/08\/15\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\/"},"author":{"name":"Travis Dixon","@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/#\/schema\/person\/de20f76afd22df7d71e141ab515c0827"},"headline":"Lesson Idea: Thinking critically about correlations","datePublished":"2017-08-15T02:26:46+00:00","dateModified":"2020-09-21T19:34:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/08\/15\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\/"},"wordCount":644,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/08\/15\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/correlation.png?fit=790%2C349&ssl=1","articleSection":["Research Methodology"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/08\/15\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\/","url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/08\/15\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\/","name":"Lesson Idea: Thinking critically about correlations | The IB Psychology Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/08\/15\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/08\/15\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/correlation.png?fit=790%2C349&ssl=1","datePublished":"2017-08-15T02:26:46+00:00","dateModified":"2020-09-21T19:34:38+00:00","description":"Teach students to think critically about studies with this activity idea that challenges them to come up with alternative explanations for correlational results. Download the complete IB Psychology unit plan and resources now.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/08\/15\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/08\/15\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/08\/15\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/correlation.png?fit=790%2C349&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/correlation.png?fit=790%2C349&ssl=1","width":790,"height":349,"caption":"Understanding that correlation does not mean causation is an important outcome in IB Psychology."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/08\/15\/lesson-idea-thinking-critically-about-correlations\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lesson Idea: Thinking critically about correlations"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/","name":"IB Psychology","description":"by Themantic Education","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/#organization","name":"Themantic Education","url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/them-ed-logo.png?fit=1465%2C1858&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/them-ed-logo.png?fit=1465%2C1858&ssl=1","width":1465,"height":1858,"caption":"Themantic Education"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/facebook.com\/themanticeducation\/","https:\/\/youtube.com\/c\/themanticeducation\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/#\/schema\/person\/de20f76afd22df7d71e141ab515c0827","name":"Travis Dixon","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6ee7465953db9edfb653802c2423ee0be4456f3cf73a4ae4032bdda760a9a5e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6ee7465953db9edfb653802c2423ee0be4456f3cf73a4ae4032bdda760a9a5e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6ee7465953db9edfb653802c2423ee0be4456f3cf73a4ae4032bdda760a9a5e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Travis Dixon"},"description":"Travis Dixon has been teaching for over 20 years and is an experienced IB Psychology, History and English teacher, author, workshop leader and examiner","url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/author\/tdixon\/"}]}},"yoast":{"focuskw":"correlation examples","title":"","metadesc":"Teach students to think critically about studies with this activity idea that challenges them to come up with alternative explanations for correlational results. Download the complete IB Psychology unit plan and resources now.","linkdex":"","metakeywords":"","meta-robots-noindex":"","meta-robots-nofollow":"","meta-robots-adv":"","canonical":"","redirect":"","opengraph-title":"","opengraph-description":"","opengraph-image":"","twitter-title":"","twitter-description":"","twitter-image":""},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/correlation.png?fit=790%2C349&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6624,"url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/08\/15\/lesson-idea-explaining-the-difference-between-causation-and-correlation\/","url_meta":{"origin":6657,"position":0},"title":"Lesson Idea: Explaining the difference between causation and correlation","author":"Travis Dixon","date":"08\/15\/2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This lesson works well with in the introductory unit, topic 1.2, lesson (d) \"correlation.\" The following TED Talk by Adam Grant is really interesting for a number of reasons and it's well worth a watch. I like to show students the short segment from 8:25 to 10:30 where he talks\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Research Methodology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Research Methodology","link":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/category\/research-methodology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/browser-773215_960_720.png?fit=720%2C720&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/browser-773215_960_720.png?fit=720%2C720&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/browser-773215_960_720.png?fit=720%2C720&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/browser-773215_960_720.png?fit=720%2C720&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13852,"url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2021\/02\/25\/how-to-evaluate-correlational-studies-properly\/","url_meta":{"origin":6657,"position":1},"title":"How to evaluate correlational studies&#8230;.PROPERLY!","author":"Travis Dixon","date":"02\/25\/2021","format":false,"excerpt":"\"This study was correlational but correlation doesn't mean causation.\" If you think this is critical thinking, think again! Let's look at three ways to PROPERLY evaluate correlational studies. A correlational study is when researchers measure the strength of a relationship between co-variables by calculating a correlation coefficient.\u00a0 In order to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Revision and Exam Preparation&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Revision and Exam Preparation","link":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/category\/revision-and-exam-preparation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/02\/Pearson_Correlation_Coefficient_and_associated_scatterplots.png?fit=575%2C388&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/02\/Pearson_Correlation_Coefficient_and_associated_scatterplots.png?fit=575%2C388&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/02\/Pearson_Correlation_Coefficient_and_associated_scatterplots.png?fit=575%2C388&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2496,"url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/02\/23\/rememberol\/","url_meta":{"origin":6657,"position":2},"title":"Rememberol","author":"Travis Dixon","date":"02\/23\/2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I like to use a basic, fictional study when introducing students to the concepts behind research in psychology. For this purpose, I pretend that I've \u00a0designed a drug called \"Rememberol\" and that it helps students increase what they remember after they study. It's a basic concept and the fact that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Research Methodology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Research Methodology","link":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/category\/research-methodology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/bigstock-pharmaceutical-medicament-117614000.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/bigstock-pharmaceutical-medicament-117614000.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/bigstock-pharmaceutical-medicament-117614000.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/bigstock-pharmaceutical-medicament-117614000.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/bigstock-pharmaceutical-medicament-117614000.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13963,"url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2021\/04\/06\/correlational-studies-on-ptsd\/","url_meta":{"origin":6657,"position":3},"title":"Correlational studies on PTSD","author":"Travis Dixon","date":"04\/06\/2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Correlational studies are one of the most commonly used research methods in the study of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In this post we'll review WHAT correlational studies are, HOW they're used to study PTSD and WHY they're used. We'll also review three key studies that can support this explanation.\u00a0 Research\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Abnormal Psychology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Abnormal Psychology","link":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/category\/abnormal-psychology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/04\/Screen-Shot-2021-04-06-at-11.25.56-1.png?fit=1200%2C489&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/04\/Screen-Shot-2021-04-06-at-11.25.56-1.png?fit=1200%2C489&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/04\/Screen-Shot-2021-04-06-at-11.25.56-1.png?fit=1200%2C489&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/04\/Screen-Shot-2021-04-06-at-11.25.56-1.png?fit=1200%2C489&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/04\/Screen-Shot-2021-04-06-at-11.25.56-1.png?fit=1200%2C489&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3356,"url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/05\/11\/relating-for-understanding\/","url_meta":{"origin":6657,"position":4},"title":"Relating for Understanding","author":"Travis Dixon","date":"05\/11\/2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I've found that a good consolidation activity to start lessons is to use the following diagram to get students thinking about how things are related. This can help students understand significant relationships, but can also consolidate their comprehension of key terms and concepts. It take zero planning and is really\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Teaching Ideas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Teaching Ideas","link":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/category\/teaching-ideas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/bigstock-1391408782.jpg?fit=900%2C635&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/bigstock-1391408782.jpg?fit=900%2C635&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/bigstock-1391408782.jpg?fit=900%2C635&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/08\/bigstock-1391408782.jpg?fit=900%2C635&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10679,"url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2018\/02\/25\/lesson-idea-generalizability-external-validity\/","url_meta":{"origin":6657,"position":5},"title":"Lesson Idea: Generalizability (External Validity)","author":"Travis Dixon","date":"02\/25\/2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The Task Read the following fictional\u00a0summaries of how people have applied results from psychological studies. Identify one or more reasons why the application is misguided and might not work. #1 Social Media and Anxiety:\u00a0One study in the USA showed a\u00a0correlation between social media and anxiety so a school in Japan\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Research Methodology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Research Methodology","link":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/category\/research-methodology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/02\/bigstock-178852840.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/02\/bigstock-178852840.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/02\/bigstock-178852840.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/02\/bigstock-178852840.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/02\/bigstock-178852840.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6657"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13336,"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6657\/revisions\/13336"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}