Lesson Plan: Scatter Diagram and Correlation
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to interpret a scatter diagram to identify different types of correlation between two quantitative variables.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- draw and interpret a scatter diagram representing bivariate data,
- distinguish between explanatory (independent) and response (dependent) variables and their respective location in a scatter diagram,
- distinguish between positive and negative linear correlation,
- use a scatter diagram to determine the direction and the strength of correlation between two quantitative variables,
- determine when correlation does and does not lead to a causal relationship between two quantitative variables,
- understand when to exclude or include outliers of a data set when considering correlations.
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- quantitative variables,
- mean, median, and mode,
- standard deviation and interquartile range,
- outliers.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- correlation coefficient,
- nonlinear correlation,
- bivariate data with nonlinear relations,
- linear regression,
- other regression models,
- lurking or confounding variables.
