Results

Correlation

Copy of Correlation

In both cases the correlation is non-significant. There was no significant relationship between degree grade classification for an essay and the time spent doing it,

= 0.19, p = 0.204, and = –0.16, p = 0.178. Note that the direction of the relationship has reversed. This has happened because the essay marks were recoded as 1 (first), 2 (upper second), 3 (lower second), and 4 (third), so high grades were represented by low numbers. This example illustrates one of the benefits of not taking continuous data (like percentages) and transforming them into categorical data: when you do, you lose information and often statistical power!