The Study of Correlation between IQ Scores and GPA of the Ninth Grade Students
Study Description. School educators have always been interested in the correlation of a grade point average (GPA) and IQ of students. Current research is aimed at the investigation of the relationship between the GPA and IQ of grade 9 students. This assessment will be conducted with the use of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) which includes a Full-Scale IQ (FSIQ). The study population consists of 30 ninth-grade students who are already 14 years old. Their IQ scores and the GPA will be measured, recorded, and compared.
Hypotheses. There will be two hypotheses in this study. The null hypothesis for the research is that there is no significant correlation between GPA and IQ of students. The alternative hypothesis is that there exists a positive correlation between IQ and GPA. Consequently, the research is going to answer the following questions. The first one is to answer if there is a significant correlation between IQ scores and GPA. The second question inquires if there is a correlation, is it positive or negative? The answers to these questions will make the results of the study.
Variables. The study will have two variables. The independent one will be the IQ level of students. The dependent variable will be a GPA. Both variables will be described using ordinal measurement because data can be ordered but intervals between the entries will not be the same. This type of measurement is good for grades.
Correlation. There were thirty random participants in the research. They all were grade 9 students aged 14. After their GPAs were calculated, the GPA mean was estimated at 2.8500 and the median at 2.8650. At the same time, the mean IQ was 91.7000 and the median IQ was 90.0000. The GPA varied from 1.80 to 4.00 and the IQ scores ranged from 75.00 to 105.00. Thus, the median GPA was higher than the medium.
Looking at the graph, it is evident that there is a significant correlation between IQ scores and GPA. The value of R approaches to 1 (it is 0.98). It means that there is a very strong correlation. The direction of the line proves that this correlation is positive. For example, a student with IQ 90 has a GPA 2.0; another one with IQ 101 has a GPA of 3.50; one more student with IQ 105 has a GPA of 4.0. Nevertheless, it is not a linear correlation and there are some exceptions such as a student with IQ 103 who got only a 2.33 GPA.
Thus, the alternative hypothesis that there exists a positive correlation between IQ and GPA is proved. Consequently, the null hypothesis is rejected. As for the research questions, they can be answered in the following way. The answer to the first question is “yes,” there is a significant correlation between IQ scores and the GPA. The answer to the second question is that the correlation is positive. On the whole, the research results enabled answering both questions.
From these results, a conclusion can be made that there is a strong positive correlation between IE of students and their GPA results. It means that the higher the IQ score, the bigger is the GPA. The investigation of thirty students proved this correlation. However, these conclusions and the research results cannot be generalized. Because there were only thirty participants who are not a representative sample, these results cannot be applied to other students in different schools.