Strengths and Limitations of Correlational Design
Walden University
FPSY 6115-3 Understanding Forensic Psychology Research

Strengths and Limitations of Correlational Design Correlational research designs are used to determine if a relationship exists between two or more variables and also describes the relationship amongst them (Stangor, 2011). The data can be results from observational research, questionnaires, or experiments and a scatterplot is often used to yield a visual of the collected data and the patterns of relationships can be described as positive linear, negative linear, nonlinear (independent), or curvilinear (Stangor, 2011). Correlational research identifies relationships between variables but does not explain a cause and effect and therefore within the design there are strengths and weaknesses. One strength of correlational research is it provides a visual image between variables in graphical form which displays the strength of the relationship. The research can be quick and easy and the predictor variables cannot be manipulated and while this design can predict a strong or not strong association between variables a main weakness is it does not imply causation which can lead to inaccurate conclusions (Stangor, 2011). Two research articles were reviewed and will be discussed to obtain a better understanding of correlational research. The first article Family and Social Factors as Predictors of Drug Misuse and Delinquent Behavior in Juveniles (Sharma, Sharma, & Barkataki, 2015) analyzed whether family and social factors contributed to drug misuse and delinquent behaviors in juveniles in Delhi, India. 487 juveniles between the ages of 8 and 18 years were interviewed by social workers over a one year period in which only 187 juveniles came from broken family background while the remaining 300 had both parents living with them. Four correlational results were determined from this study and are as follows: juveniles who came from a broken family structure were more likely to use drugs which resulted in positive correlation; family structure and drug misuse were negatively correlated; broken family structure and criminal behavior were strongly correlated whereas stable family structure and criminal behavior was found to be negatively correlated. The results infer that family structure is an important factor in determining the behavior of a juvenile. A weakness of this study is that it was conducted in one global region and one only one gender was sampled which could lead to a misunderstanding of juveniles around the world. The second article Correlates of Re-arrest among Felony Domestic Violence Probationers (Johnson, 2008) examined the correlation between nine risk factors and recidivism amongst felony domestic batterers while servings a 24 month probation sentence in a suburban county of Chicago. The nine risk factors included were address stability, young offenders, shared residence status with the victim, education level, race, employment stability, number of prior criminal record, substance abuse history, and prior completion of batterer’s counseling. Johnson found that address stability, offenders who possessed a high school diploma or GED, prior completion of batterer’s counseling, and Caucasians had a negative correlation with re-arrest whereas the other five factors had a positive correlation and were more likely to be re-arrested. Johnson’s findings were consistent with previous research and the method was straightforward to support his hypotheses, however, there were also limitations. This study also focused on only male gender which could lead to biased results and the re-arrest records were obtained for one county but did not include re-arrests in other counties which could lead to inaccurate data. The data also did not include if police calls were made but no re-arrest because the victim failed to report the truth when the police were at the scene and there also could have been an absence in data if the victim failed to report an incident. Correlational research is a quick and easy way to describe the strength of a relationship and can provide information for further research and while it may not suggest the cause of the relationship it can provide factors as to why a relationship does not exist.
References
Johnson, R. (2008). Correlates of Re-arrest among Felony Domestic Violence Probationers. Federal Probation, Vol 72(3), pp. 42-47. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
Sharma, S., Sharma, G., & Barkataki, B. (2015). Family and Social Factors as Predictors of Drug Misuse and Delinquent Behavior in Juveniles. International Medical Journal, Vol. 22(4), pp. 237-240. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
Stangor (2011). Research Methods for Behavioral Sciences (4th ed). Wadsworth Cengage Learning, Mason, OH.