Question

Which r indicates a weaker association, -.33, +.19?

Answer 1

The symbol 'r' is the correlation coefficient that measures the degree of association. This coefficient is also called as Pearson's correlation coefficient, the name given after its originator and it is a measure of linear association.

While measuring on the scale, the correlation coefficient gives the variation from -1 to +1. When one variable among both is increased because the other has increased, the correlation is positive and vice versa; when one is decreased as the other has increased, then it is negative. So,overall the values cannot exceed 1.0 or cannot be less than -1.0 and a correlation of -1.0 shows a perfect negative correlation, and a correlation of 1.0 gives a perfect positive correlation. According to the rule, the closer the value of r is to +1, the stronger is the linear relationship.

So, in the case of -.33 and +.19; -.33 is the weaker association.