Describe what researchers can and cannot learn from correlational studies, using any examples.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (Oct/Nov 2018). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [6] Award 1 mark per idea. Up to max 4 marks for all one side, e.g. 'can tell us'. Award max 3 marks for examples. From correlations we can learn about: relationships/links between variables (accept can be negative or positive if no definitions); (1 for definition) whether the two variables are positively correlated i.e. both increase together for example Piliavin et al found that as group size increased the likelihood of helping also increased or negatively correlated, i.e. as one increases the other decreases for example, Piliavin et al. expected to find that as group size increased the likelihood of helping would decrease so they can guide ideas for (future) experimental work can study variables which cannot practically be manipulated, such as activity levels in dreams can study variables which cannot ethically be manipulated, such as phobia strength From correlations we cannot learn about: causal relationships between the variables being tested i.e. whether one causes the other to change or whether they are both dependent on a third factor e.g. Dement and Kleitman could not be certain whether longer REM caused longer dreams or longer dreams caused longer REM periods.