APPLYING READILY ACCESSIBLE GRAPHICAL TECHNIQUES TO ASSESS CURVILINEAR RELATIONSHIPS AND DETECT OUTLIERS - THE CASE OF PROTECTIVE FAMILY PROCESSES

The purpose of this article is to use data from a study of protective family processes to illustrate how readily accessible graphical techni ques can supplement correlation and regression analyses. Graphical tec hniques can help to (a) better understand family process data from a d escriptive standpoint, (b) minimize erroneous statistical conclusions, and (c) clarify theoretically important relationships among variables Following a brief description of the substantive area selected for il lustration of the graphical techniques, data from a study employing mu ltimethod measurement procedures (N = 146) are employed to illustrate two graphical technique applications in the analysis of a predictor (m arital quality) of a study outcome variable (parent-child affective qu ality). Instructions for the application of relevant procedures in SAS and SPSS statistical packages are provided.