ABSTRACT
In this chapter we discuss the selection and application of appropriate statistical methods to answer basic associational research questions. When we refer to basic research questions we are discussing analyses that have only one independent variable and one dependent variable. We examine in detail two very commonly used statistical tests: the Pearson product-moment correlation coefcient, r, and the chi-square (χ2) test for independence. For the most part, the basic associational research approach examines the relation between two continuous variables (or at least ones that have many ordered levels) leading to a correlation coefcient. The most common correlation coefcient used to describe the relationships between two continuous variables is the Pearson product-moment correlation, which is represented by r. When one or both of the variables is not normally distributed or there are violations precluding the use of parametric statistics, the Spearman correlation or the Kendall tau (τ) is usually used.1 However, when we examine the relationship between two variables that are dichotomous or nominal level, with a few nonordered categories, the Pearson chi-square (χ2) test for independence is used.
