Correlational Analysis:

Factors Associated with

AIDS in Essex County, New Jersey

Research has shown that there is a relationship between the contraction of HIV and various social factors. Because there is steady social gradient running from east to west across Essex County, correlational analysis and mapping of trends should prove advantageous in the evaluation of the spread of AIDS in the metropolitan areas of Newark and New York City. The analysis of these findings could lead to conclusions about factors including standard of living, poverty, minority population, level and standard of education, and length of commute to work.¹

In order to determine whether factors do indeed correlate with the AIDS rate, the correlation coefficients of the figures need to be calculated and compared to the significant values at p < 0.05 for 9 degrees of freedom (df = N – 2 = 11 – 2). At this level of confidence, 95% of the time the factor in question would be associated with the AIDS rate (Table 1).