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Correlation

Pearson correlation is a correlation measure used to measure the strength and direction of a linear relationship between two variables. Two variables are said to be correlated if a change in one variable is accompanied by a change in the other variable, either in the same direction or in the opposite direction. It must be remembered that a small (not significant) correlation coefficient does not mean that the two variables are not related . It is possible that two variables have a strong relationship but the value of the correlation coefficient is close to zero, for example in the case of a non-linear relationship .

Thus, the correlation coefficient only measures the strength of the linear relationship and not the non-linear relationship . It should also be remembered that the existence of a strong linear relationship between variables does not necessarily mean that there is a causal, causal relationship .