Q:/ You examine the correlation between two continuous variables X and Y, and find that...
gledanju0
Answered
2022-06-26
Q:/ You examine the correlation between two continuous variables X and Y, and find that this correlation is close to zero. A hypothesis test on this correlation would have you retain the null hypothesis and conclude there is no correlation between X and Y. This means that there is no relationship between X that can be used in a predictive model. Is this True/False? A:/ Is this true or false and why?
Answer & Explanation
Xzavier Shelton
Expert
2022-06-27Added 26 answers
I believe the correct test would have the null hypothesis as being that r is 0, and the alternative would be that r is simply non-zero (using two-sided test), not that r=1 or r=-1. The variables X and Y do not necessarily have to be perfectly correlated to be used in a predictive model. Second, with a statistical test, you can only state that your data does not support the conclusion that X and Y are correlated at your given significance level, but not definitively that they are not correlated.