COURSE CODE: EFN 5306

COURSE TITLE: CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT

PREPARED BY

DR. LEYLAND F. THOMPSON

ROOM No: F26

_____________________________________________________________
HANDOUT # 11

Correlation Coefficient (Measures of Relationship)

It is important to know how one variable is related to another. For Example: The relationship between
marks at one stage of education with those at another is very important. Primary school marks are used
to predict the possible success of a pupil in secondary education and, if there is no relationship, students
may well be transferred without any advice from the primary school.

To illustrate the kinds of studies that might involve two variables (denoted by X and Y), consider the
following research studies:

 Does the incidence of breast cancer (Y) vary with the amount of sunlight (X) in a particular
location?

 Does the rating of an individual’s “likeability” (Y) have anything to do with physical attractiveness
(X)?

 Does the accuracy of performance (Y) decrease as speed of response (X)

The measure of the relationship between variables/marks is known as the Correlation Coefficient and is
denoted by r or in certain instances by r S. The Correlation Coefficient expresses the degree of relationship
between two variables or sets of scores by numbers ranging from +1.00 to – 1.00. A perfect positive
correlation is indicated by a coefficient of +1.00 and a perfect negative correlation by a coefficient of –
1.00. A correlation coefficient of .00 lies midway between these extremes and indicates no relationship
between the two sets of scores. The larger the coefficient (positive or negative), the higher the degree of
relationship expressed.

The following gives a rough indication of the degree of the relationship between measures:

0.00 to 0.20 negligible

0.20 to 0.40 low
0.40 to 0.60 moderate
0.60 to 0.80 substantial
0.80 to 1.00 high

Two of the most common methods of computing the correlation coefficient are the Spearman’s
correlation coefficient for ranked data indicated by rS and is used when the number of scores is small
and the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient indicated by r and is used when the number
of scores is large.

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Computing Correlation Coefficient using Spearman’s correlation coefficient for ranked data ( rS)

6∑ D²
rS =1 – (Where N is the number of students)
N ( N ²−1 )
Teacher’s Estimate: 34, 41, 41, 38, 27, 27, 27, 25, 25, 24, 23, 19

English Marks: 40, 36, 33, 33, 32, 30, 28, 28, 28, 27, 25, 20

Teacher’s
Estimate English Rank D D2

4 1 3 9

1.5 2 - 0.5 0.25

1.5 3.5 - 2 4

3 3.5 - 0.5 0.25

6 5 1 1

6 6 0 0

6 8 -2 4

8.5 8 0.5 .25

8.5 8 0.5 .25

10 10 0 0

11 11 0 0

12 12 0 0

N = 12 Total 19.00

6∑ D²
rS =1 –
N ( N ²−1 )
6 X 19
rS =1 –
12 ( 144−1 )
114
rS =1 –
12 X 143
114
rS =1 – = 1 – 0.066 = 0.93
1716

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Definition

Ranked data: Data for which the observations have been replaced by their numerical ranks from the
lowest to the highest.

Spearman’s correlation coefficient for ranked data (r S): A correlation coefficient on ranked data.

Computing Correlation Coefficient using Pearson Product-Moment Correlation

Coefficient (r)
Formula:

N∑XY - ∑X∑Y 
r=
√[N∑X2 – (∑X)2] √[N∑Y2 – (∑Y)2]

History (X) 73, 71, 70, 67, 64, 61, 61, 60, 58, 56, 53, 50

English (Y) 40, 35, 33, 23, 29, 31, 30, 26, 28, 34, 25, 22

Student Text X Test Y XY 2 Y2

X

A 73 40 2920 5329 1600

B 71 35 2485 5041 1225
C 70 33 2310 4900 1089

D 67 27 1809 4489 729

E 64 29 1856 4096 841

F 61 31 1891 3721 961

G 61 30 1830 3721 900
H 60 26 1560 3600 676

I 58 28 1624 3364 784

J 56 34 1904 3136 1156
K 53 25 1325 2809 625
L 50 22 1100 2500 484

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 Totals 744 360 22614 46706 11070

N∑XY - ∑X∑Y 
r=
√[N∑X2 – (∑X)2] √[N∑Y2 – (∑Y)2]

12 x 22614 – 744 x 360

r=
√[12 x 46706 – (744)2] √[12 x 11070 – (360)2]

271368 – 267840
r=
√(560472 – 553536) √(132840 – 129600)

271368 – 267840
r=
√6936 x √3240

3528
r=
83.3 x 56.9

3528
r=
4731

r= 0.74

Steps in Calculation

Step 1. Find the sums of the individual marks: i.e.

∑X = 744 and ∑Y = 360

Step 2. Multiply the mark of each student in Test X by the corresponding mark in Test Y to give
XY.

Step 3. Find ∑XY: ∑XY = 22,614

Step 4. Square the mark of each student in Test X to give X 2 and find ∑X2: ∑X2 = 46,706.

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 Step 5. Square the mark of each student in Test Y to give Y 2 and ∑Y2: ∑Y2 =11,070

Step 6. Find the correlation coefficient from the Formula.

Home Assignment

Find the correlation coefficient between the Aptitude scores (X) and the Reading Test scores (Y) of the 10
students using (i) Pearson Product-Moment Correlation and (ii) Spearman’s ranked data Formulae.

Aptitude scores: 120, 132, 124, 122, 108, 125, 112, 110, 90, 126

Reading Scores: 82, 88, 96, 68, 74, 88, 83, 60, 72, 98

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