Which term describes a statistical measure that captures both the direction and strength of the relationship between variables?

The term that accurately describes a statistical measure capturing both the direction and strength of the relationship between variables is the correlational coefficient. This measure is typically represented as a value between -1 and 1, where positive values indicate a positive relationship (as one variable increases, so does the other), and negative values indicate a negative relationship (as one variable increases, the other decreases). A value closer to 1 or -1 signifies a strong relationship, while a value close to 0 indicates a weak relationship.

In contrast, options like standardized score refer to a metric that indicates how many standard deviations an element is from the mean, without conveying information about the relationship between two variables. Significance level pertains to the probability of rejecting a null hypothesis when it is actually true, which does not describe a relationship between variables. Descriptive statistics summarize data but do not indicate relationships between variables. Thus, the correlational coefficient is the most fitting term for assessing relationships in terms of both direction and strength.