Associations

After describing single variables, we will now explore methods for describing associations. A significant portion of the day-to-day statistics calculated in the sciences involves measures of association. Often, a measure of association is the final step in a statistical analysis, indicating whether, for example, belonging to a specific group is associated with an increased outcome, or if decreasing values in a continuous variable are associated with increasing values in another, and so on. Although many specialized statistical procedures exist to measure associations in specific situations, a general framework can often replace most of these special cases, namely the regression model.