Introduction

    Correlation is a measure of the relationship between variables. Correlational designsare used when researchers need to explore the relationships that may exist amongst variables that are not manipulated or cannot be manipulated (Fitzgerald, Rumrill & Schenker, 2004). An establishment of variables could man a relationship between many variables or could be as simply one variable having a relationship to another variable. Formation of a relationship could be either be a positive or negative one. In a positive relationship, as one variable increases, the other variable will increase also. In a negative relationship, one variable decreases as the other variable will increase. However, correlation is not a measure of interconnection but can be an indicator of the existence of a relationship between variables. Correlation can have the possibilities of a range from -1 to +1 with both limits indicating a component of a strong relationship. In there is an absolute value present above 0.5 it indicates a strong relationship while an absolute 0.5 indicates an average relationship between variables. When the values fall below 0.5 this will indicate the existence of a weak relationship between the variables.

Strengths of Correlation Designs

When looking a look at how a study can determine the validity of a correlation design you have to be able to understand the strengths and weaknesses. A correlation can establish the existence or nonexistence of a relationship between two factors where it then can be used for representing areas where experimental research may take place and show further outcomes. Therefore, researchers can gather much more data the experiments.

When a researcher chooses to use correlational design, they can gauge the extent of relationships between important variables.  Naturalistic observation is an advantage of correlational studies.  To be able to see what is happening in real-time it can be captured with a naturalistic observation by the researcher. Rather than having to study photographic images or playback of a video recording of an incident.  They will have an opportunity to observe the phenomenon as it transpires. As the action happens and change occurs the researcher is present in the moment to capture data that will be later analyzed to provide evidence to support their concern (Mertens, 2014). An example, the researcher could observe a group of middle school students interact with each other in a way that is seen from many angles and record what is seen in real-time.