Which test would be best for my thesis study with 2 variables and 2 levels? I'm considering to run on SPSS, 4 separate correlation tests, OR a MLR My thesis questions on whether a certain type of thoughts are associated with stress levels. There are two types of thoughts and two different levels. What should I use? The first variable is the direction of thoughts (upwards vs downwards) and the controllability of thoughts (controllable vs uncontrollable). I also considered doing stepwise regression to talk about the potential interactions.
This is a psychology study. Really appreciate the help :)

If the sample size is small it is advisable to use Fisher's exact test which provides an exact p-value.
With large samples, you may use a chi-squared test or the G-test.
I'm not familiar with SPSS but by searching the web, I think you will be able to find tutorials on how to run Fisher's exact test and the chi-squared test in SPSS.
