What is correlational Research?

Investigating the relationships that may exist among two or more variables as well as their implications for cause and effect.

Correlational research, like causal-comparative research, is an example of what is sometimes called associational research. In associational research, the relationships among two or more variables are studied without any attempt to influence them. In their simplest form, correlational studies investigate the possibility of relationships between only two variables, although investigations of more than two variables are common. In contrast to experimental research, however, there is no manipulation of variables in correlational research.

Correlational research is also sometimes referred to as a form of descriptive research because it describes an existing relationship between variables. The way it describes this relationship, however, is quite different from the descriptions found in other types of studies. A correlational study describes the degree to which two or more quantitative variables are related, and it does so by using a correlation coefficient.* When a correlation is found to exist between two variables, it means that scores within a certain range on one variable are associated with scores within a certain range on the other variable. You will recall that a positive correlation means high scores on one variable tend to be associated with high scores on the other variable, while low scores on one are associated with low scores on the other. A negative correlation, on the other hand, means high scores on one variable are associated with low scores on the other variable, and low scores on one are associated with high scores on the other. As we also have indicated before, relationships can be illustrated graphically through the use of scatterplots.

Reference

Fraenkel, J. R. & Wallen, N. E. (2009). How to design and evaluate research in education. McGraw Hill Inc.