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Unit 3: Language of Research

Notes
Figure 3.2

On the other hand a negative relationship implies that high values on one variable are associated
with low values on the other. This is also sometimes termed an inverse relationship. Here, we
show an idealized negative relationship between a measure of self esteem and a measure of
paranoia in psychiatric patients.
Figure 3.3

These are the simplest types of relationships we might typically estimate in research. But the
pattern of a relationship can be more complex than this. For instance, the figure on the left shows
a relationship that changes over the range of both variables, a curvilinear relationship. In this
example, the horizontal axis represents dosage of a drug for an illness and the vertical axis
represents a severity of illness measure. As dosage rises, severity of illness goes down. But at
some point, the patient begins to experience negative side effects associated with too high a
dosage, and the severity of illness begins to increase again.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
1. Probabilistic as a term represents much contemporary social research which is most often
than not, based on ……………..
2. A ………………..is one that takes place over time – we have at least two (and often more)
waves of measurement in a longitudinal design.
3. A …………….refers to the correspondence between two variables.
4. A ………………relationship implies that high values on one variable are associated with
low values on the other.

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