Running head: CORRELATION AND BIVARIATE REGRESSION 1

Correlation and Bivariate Regression

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation
CORRELATION AND BIVARIATE REGRESSION 2

Correlation and Bivariate Regression

Correlation and bivariate regression helps in the establishment of the association between two

factors of interest. Correlation method also helps the researcher to determine the strength of the

linear association between two variables (Frankfort-Nachmias & Leon-Guerrero, 2017). The

correlation values range from -1 to 1, where 0 indicates no relationship. Bivariate regression, on

the other hand, is a statistical tool that helps in understanding the link between independent and

dependent variables.

The article under consideration in this assignment is by De Haas et al. (2007). The title of the

article is “Genetic correlations between body condition scores and fertility in dairy cattle using

bivariate random regression models." The authors of the article employed a bivariate random

regression research design. This approach is usually appropriate while analyzing longitudinal

genetic data. The authors opted to use correlation and bivariate regression. These approaches

help in the estimation of genetic factors for score situation on body and prolificacy traits in dairy

cattle. This choice was valid because the research design works best with cross-sectional and

longitudinal data (Frankfort-Nachmias & Leon-Guerrero, 2017). Besides that, it fitted the linear

modelY = Xb+Zu+ e. In this case, Y represents the outcome, while Xb depicts the fixed effects of

the design. Zu shows the randomly distributed sire effects, and e indicates the errors incurred in

the model (De Haas et al., 2007). This design enabled the researchers to obtain the correlation

between the two variables under study.

The longitudinal design came in play while fitting the genetic level using the following

n
model;Y ij =X ij + ∑ u ℑ ∅ m ( DIM j ) +e ij
m=1
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Y ij shows the score condition of a particular heifer, while 'ij' indicates the sire number and day,

respectively. X ij , on the other hand, represents the fixed effects in the design while 'u' and m

indicate the random cause and coefficient, respectively. DIM is the abbreviation of day in milk

while 'eij' shows the residuals incurred.

The authors of the article displayed the data using bar charts, line graphs, and tables. The bar

charts helped in the depiction of the descriptive statistics of the data. For instance, figure 1

showed the number of lactating heifers per month. The line graphs assisted the authors in

displaying the results of longitudinal random regression analysis (De Haas et al., 2007). The

representations are in figures four to eight. The tables, on the other hand, helped the researchers

in representing the correlation outcomes. These ways of displaying data are pleasing and

effortlessly understandable hence appropriate. The authors gave a stand-alone results section.

This action was necessary because the readers can easily relate the methods used in the research

and the results, hence increasing understandability levels. Apart from that, the authors

subdivided the results section. For example, the article had the descriptive, cross-sectional, and

longitudinal parts. These portions gave detailed information, which will enable the readers to

comprehend the findings of the study genuinely.

The authors of this article did not display the effect size, a fundamental aspect of any research

study. The exclusion of effect size is, in this case, disadvantageous. The reason is that the target

readers will not know if the statistical significance of the study reflects the scientific

meaningfulness (Wagner, 2019). The basis for this conclusion is that at times, the figures may

indicate statistical significance, but it does not reflect the reality in real life. The effect size

would have helped in determining the intensity of the correlation between the two parameters in

this article.
CORRELATION AND BIVARIATE REGRESSION 4

References

De Haas, Y., Janss, L. L. G., & Kadarmideen, H. N. (2007). Genetic correlations between body

condition scores and fertility in dairy cattle using bivariate random regression

models. Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics, 124(5), 277-285.

Frankfort-Nachmias, C., & Leon-Guerrero, A. (2017). Social statistics for a diverse society. Sage

Publications.

Wagner III, W. E. (2019). Using IBM® SPSS® statistics for research methods and social

science statistics. Sage Publications.