How do you determine the direction of correlation in a scatter plot?

You determine the direction of correlation in a scatter plot by observing the overall trend of the data points.

In a scatter plot, each point represents a pair of values. To find the direction of correlation, look at how the points are arranged. If the points tend to rise from left to right, this indicates a positive correlation. This means that as one variable increases, the other variable also increases. For example, if you plot hours studied against exam scores, you might see that more hours studied generally lead to higher scores, showing a positive correlation.

Conversely, if the points tend to fall from left to right, this indicates a negative correlation. This means that as one variable increases, the other variable decreases. For instance, if you plot the number of hours spent watching TV against exam scores, you might find that more hours of TV are associated with lower exam scores, showing a negative correlation.

If the points do not show any clear upward or downward trend and are scattered randomly, this suggests no correlation. This means that there is no apparent relationship between the two variables. For example, plotting shoe size against exam scores would likely show no correlation, as these two variables are unrelated.

By carefully observing the overall pattern of the data points in a scatter plot, you can determine whether the correlation is positive, negative, or non-existent.