A research methods student conducts a study on the relationship between people's level of extroversion and the number of close friends they have. She computes Pearson's r, which comes out to be - 1.70. Which of the following is most clearly true?
A) The relationship between the two variables is weak.
B) More extroverted people have fewer friends.
C) She ought to use a bar graph to display her results.
D) She made an error in computing Pearson's r.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Pearson's r cannot be less than -1 or greater than 1. A negative value of Pearson's r indicates an inverse relationship, but the value of -1.70 suggests a computational error. Therefore, the researcher made an error in computing Pearson's r.

A Research Methods Student Conducts a Study on the Relationship