What type of association does Professor Lee find when observing that students with lower exam grades tend to earn more extra credit points?

When Professor Lee observes that students with lower exam grades tend to earn more extra credit points, it indicates a negative association. This means that as one variable (exam grades) decreases, the other variable (extra credit points) increases. In this case, the inverse relationship suggests that students who perform poorly on exams may be more motivated to seek extra credit, perhaps as a way to bolster their overall grades. This kind of relationship is fundamentally different from a positive association, where both variables would move in the same direction, or a curvilinear association, where the relationship forms a curve rather than a straight line. Further, a no association scenario would imply that changes in exam grades do not affect the number of extra credit points earned at all. Thus, the observation contributes to the understanding of this particular negative association in academic performance dynamics.