Question

Identifying the Strongest Correlation
Four students in Ms. Alton's class shared the correlation coefficients derived from their data as follows:



Student A: r = –0.87

Student B: r = –0.78

Student C: r = 0.79

Student D: r = 0.86

Whose data had the strongest correlation?

Student A
Student B
Student C
Student D

Answer 1

Student A.

Strength depends on the absolute value of r (how close it is to 1). |−0.87| = 0.87 is largest, so A has the strongest correlation (negative direction).