Question

8. When do we use a correlation? Give an original example that is relevant to criminology or criminal justice.

9. What two things does the correlation value tell us about the relationship between two variables?

10. I want to run a correlation on the variables age at first arrest and number of delinquent friends. Which is my independent variable and which is my dependent variable?

Answer 1

(8)

EXAMPLE OF USE OF CORRELATION RELEVANT TO CRIMINOLOGY:

There is an strong inverse correlation between education and crime. Mostly uneducated people only involve in crimes. Education makes people more law abiding citizens.

(9) Correlation tells us :

(i) relationship between two variables direct or inverse.i.e., as X increases, Y also increases.

(ii) whether the relationship is strong or weak. A value close to 0 indicates weak relation. It is near + 1 or -1, it is strong.

(10) Independent variable : age at first arrest

      Dependent variable: number of delinquent friends.

REASON: As the age at first arrest is more, the number of delinquent friends will be less; in childhood, having friends with tendency to commit crime will be more, since as age becomes more, the person becomes more matured and hence will have less delinquent friends.