Case Study

Diagnose the type of relationship demonstrated by these scores and explain the visual pattern this relationship will produce on a scatterplot. Justify how this pattern demonstrates the direction of variable change.

Case context: A psychologist administers the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale to a group of college students twice, with the administrations spaced one week apart. When reviewing the raw data, the psychologist notices that students who had low self-esteem scores during the first week also tended to have low scores during the second week, while those with high initial scores remained high on the second occasion.

Question: Diagnose the type of relationship demonstrated by these scores and explain the visual pattern this relationship will produce on a scatterplot. Justify how this pattern demonstrates the direction of variable change.

Sample answer: This case demonstrates a positive relationship because the variables change in the same direction: higher scores on the first test are associated with higher scores on the second. This pattern will cause the data points on a scatterplot to progress from the lower left to the upper right, visually demonstrating that the variables move together in the same direction.

Key points:

  • Identify the relationship as a positive relationship.
  • Explain that the variables change in the same direction.
  • Explain that the scatterplot points progress from the lower left to the upper right.

Rubric: The response must identify the relationship as a positive relationship (or correlation), explain that the scatterplot data points progress from the lower left to the upper right, and comprehend that the variables are changing in the same direction.

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Updated 2026-05-27

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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU

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