Interpersonal Communication- A Mindful Approach to Relationships, 2020a

One of the inherent limitations of a correlation is that it cannot say that X caused Y. For example, in the
Wanzer and Booth-Butterfield study, we cannot say that someone’s HO caused them to be viewed as
more popular. All we can tell when using a correlation is that there is a relationship or that there is not a
relationship between two variables.
In addition to examining relationships, researchers are often highly interested in exploring what we call
differences. Scholars distinguish between two types of differences: differences of kind and differences of
degree.
Differences of Kind
Differences of kind are differences that exist because people fall within a specific category. The class
example I always like to use is the behavioral differences between cheerleaders and football players.
Cheerleaders will exhibit very specific behaviors (using megaphones, dancing, being tossed into the air,
yelling cheers, pumping up the audience, etc.) during a football game. Football players will exhibit a
very different set of behaviors (e.g., throwing the football, running with the football, kicking the football,
tackling people). When you have two groups that have very different prescribed sets of behavior, we call
this a difference of kind.
Differences of Degree
The difference that social scientists are most interested in is called differences of degree. The term
“degree” here means that you are looking and comparing the scores of two different groups on a single
variable. Let’s take the concept of height and compare females and males. In a study completed by Max
Roser, Cameron Appel, and Hannah Ritchie, the researchers examined a wide range of issues related
to human height. 4 Based on data that was gathered from 1896 until 1996, the researchers found that
consistently males were taller than females. By 1996, males had an average height of 171 centimeters,
while females had an average height of 159 centimeters. This difference is what we call a difference of
degree.
Now, it’s essential to realize that when we’re discussing differences of degrees, we are comparing
two or more groups’ scores on a single outcome variable (in this case height). At the same time, just
because we find that the average male is taller than the average female does not mean that there are not
really short males and really tall females. In fact, research has shown us that there is generally a much
broader range of heights among males than there is between males and females. The same is also true
for females; there is a broad range of different heights of females. However, differences of degrees are
not interested in the really short males or really tall females (or really tall males and really short females).
Instead, differences of degrees are examined by looking at the average male’s height and comparing it to
the average female’s height.
So, there you have it. You’ve now learned two very important concepts related to the statistics
interpersonal communication scholars commonly use.
A Note for Professors
We want to start by thanking you for adopting this Open Educational Resource textbook. We know that
xxi
Interpersonal Communication