Consider the following hypothesis.
Ha: In a comparison of individuals, individuals who think the economy is thriving are more likely to
approve of the U.S. Congress compared to individuals who think the economy is failing.
1. What is the null hypothesis (H0)?
2. What is the dependent variable?
3. What is the independent variable?
4. What is the unit of analysis?
A researcher surveys 832 Americans, finding the Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r) between ratings
of the economy and approval of Congress is 0.54 (r = 0.54).
5. Interpret in words what this correlation coefficient means in terms of direction and strength.
Based on the correlation coefficient, do you have support for the hypothesis? In other words, is
the relationship in the hypothesized direction?
6. The correlation coefficient t-statistic (tr) is 18.48. Is the relationship statistically significant at the
p < .05 level? Explain how you know. [Hint: you will need to calculate the degrees of freedom
(df) and find the critical value to compare to the tr value.]
7. Do you have support for the hypothesis? Can you reject the null hypothesis? Explain how you
know.