Correlational methods in research design

Correlation and Confounding

Research is the act and art of putting ideas together to make a new, coherent argument which brings about new knowledge and understanding. In order to do this, context and environmental detail are important to help realize this outcome. Correlations are signs and signals that a significant association has been developed by a comparison. In this act of comparison, a special pattern or similarity is discovered, making more known about either of the two items being compared.

This act of comparing can have some negative and confusing outcomes as well. When little or no distinction can be made between two variables it may be difficult or impossible to separate the effects of either of them. This suggests that these variables are confounded and work against the researcher's ability to make a clear and concise argument supporting a hypothesis.

Goldfield et al. (2011) article expressed an investigation between body mass index (BMI) and the effects of gender in adolescent population. According to the article " the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the frequency of family meals and BMI in male and female adolescents, while controlling for potential confounding factors associated with BMI, such as parental education, adolescent's age, and snack-food eating." Nearly 1800 children were used with an average age of just over 14 years old for this study in which these children completed self-report measures to assess the frequency of family meals and the risk factors associated with BMI.

This article is filled with many variables that are attempting to relate BMI with other social behaviors in children such as eating family meals. "Risk factors" are discussed as well, which are inherently confounding in their own right. A risk factor is not a correlation and is merely an unproven coincidence that is yet to be scientifically proven. In this study many of these confounding variables are included in the discussion such as snack food eating and physical activity. These terms are much too subjective to produce any general understanding and do not provide a clear and recognizable path to gaining further knowledge about these subjects.