Identify the independent and dependent variable in a paired data set.
Describe a scatterplot's trend as a positive, negative, or no correlation.
Distinguish correlation from causation when reading a scatterplot.
What the lesson concludes
The independent variable goes on the horizontal axis and is the one being changed or chosen; the dependent variable goes on the vertical axis and responds to it.
A positive correlation trends upward left to right; a negative correlation trends downward left to right; no correlation shows no clear pattern.
Correlation describes how two variables move together, it does not by itself prove that one causes the other.
Scatterplot questions are usually answered by eye, by describing the overall trend of the points, not by calculating anything.
Read the axis labels first so you know which variable is independent before you describe the trend.