Question

A positive correlation between two variables X and Y means: If the value of X is above the mean, the

value of Y will be above the mean as well.
A. This is always true.
B. This is sometimes true.
C. This is never true.

Answer 1

Answer: B. This is sometimes true.

Explanation:

A positive correlation between 2 variables means that they generally move in the same direction meaning that as one variable rises, the other rises as well and as the other falls, the other falls as well.

However, the correlation can be strong, weak or anything in-between. This means that just because one variable increases by 12 does not mean the other would as well. It could increase by 1 alone and still have a positive correlation albeit a small one.

Therefore, if the value of one variable is above the mean, it doesn't always follow that the other with a positive correlation will as well as they just might not have that strong a correlation.