indirect correlation
- noun
- Specialized
:
correlación indirecta
- Researchers found an indirect correlation between smoking rates and academic performance in adolescents.
Examples
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There was an indirect correlation between job satisfaction and stress levels among employees.
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The data revealed an indirect correlation between air pollution and respiratory health.
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There is a strong indirect correlation between education levels and crime rates.
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Researchers found an indirect correlation in their latest study.
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Researchers found an indirect correlation between smoking rates and academic performance in adolescents.
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The data revealed an indirect correlation between air pollution and respiratory health.
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There was an indirect correlation between job satisfaction and stress levels among employees.
Synonyms
1
4.6
A connection between two things where one goes up as the other goes down
Antonyms
How Strong
- Specialized
- Specialized
Surface Forms
Morphology
A B1 learner who knows 'indirect' (not direct / via intermediaries) and 'correlation' (a relationship between variables) can infer that the phrase denotes a non-direct relationship between variables, so there is some compositional cue. However, the precise statistical sense given here — that one variable increases as the other decreases (i.e. a negative/inverse correlation) — is not clearly deducible from 'indirect' and the term is somewhat ambiguous, so the meaning is not fully predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
The term indirect correlation may come from a simple image: a seesaw, where indirect, meaning 'not in the same direction', and correlation, meaning 'a link', show that when one side goes up the other goes down. So, indirect correlation means two things are connected so that when one 'goes up' the other 'goes down'.