13. 8. Correlation

_ Tips for Finding the Eighth Data Story Type - Correlations:_

By definition, correlations are ways that one variable is related to another in a given data set. So to find whether you data set contains an interesting correlation, there’s no better tool than a scatterplot to show you the way. Start by creating scatterplots of your most important quantitative measures, and group the data in different ways to see if a shape emerges.

Consider coloring the shapes by different categorical variables, or filtering, in order to find out if you see any interesting grouping effects in the data. Add regression lines to the points, and see whether the pattern is statistically significant (p-value), and whether the change in one variable explains the change in the other variable to a large extent or not. (R^2).

But a word of caution with the eighth data story type! Don’t assume causation, when all you really have is correlation.