Question

Suppose a researcher hypothesized that a relationship existed between nurses' leadership behavior and jpb satisfaction. Correlation analysis revealed an r=0.60 that had a p value < 0.001. The researcher may conclude which of the following (Mak all that apply):

A. The greater the leadership behavior of the nurse, the higher the degree of job satisfaction

B. The data analysis demonstrated that the null hypothesis could be rejected

C. A statistically significant relationship exists between nurses' leadership behavior and job satisfation

D. High levels of leadership behavior caused hidgh job satisfaction

Answer 1

The correlation coefficient is a number between –1 and 1 that determines whether two paired sets of data are related. The closer to 1 the more ‘confident’ we are of a positive linear correlation (relationship) and the closer to –1 the more confident we are of a negative linear correlation (relationship). And when the correlation coefficient is close to zero there is no evidence of any relationship.

In the given study of correlation analysis between nurses' leadership behavior and job satisfaction, the correlation coefficient is 0.60. Since it is closer to 1, we conclude that there is positive linear relationship between nurses' leadership behavior and job satisfaction ( That is, the greater the leadership behavior of the nurse, the higher the degree of job satisfaction​).

The standard method used to measure the ‘significance’ of empirical analyses is the p-value. Suppose we are trying to determine if the relationship between two variables is significant; then we start with the ‘null hypothesis’ that "The two variables are unrelated". The p-value is a number between 0 and 1 representing the probability that this data (relationship) would have arisen if the null hypothesis were true.

A low p-value is taken as evidence that the null hypothesis can be ‘rejected’. If the p-value is low we can say that there is high significance.

To investigate a hypothesized relationship will set a p-value in advance. If the data from the study results in a p-value of less than that specified in advance, we can claim that the study is significant and hence we reject the null hypothesis and conclude that a significant relationship exists.

In the given study, we set a p-value of 0.001. And since the calculated p-value in the study of relationship between nurses' leadership behavior and job satisfaction is less than 0.001, we reject the null hypothesis that "The nurses' leadership behavior and job satisfaction are unrelated" and conclude that a statistically significant relationship exists between nurses' leadership behavior and job satisfation.

​Thus the correct conclusion is "A) The greater the leadership behavior of the nurse, the higher the degree of job satisfaction​" and C) A statistically significant relationship exists between nurses' leadership behavior and job satisfation​".