CORRELATION

When do we use r, the Pearson Product Moment Coefficient of Correlation?

We use the r to determine the index of relationship between two variables,

the independent and the dependent variables. If there is relationship
between the independent and the dependent variables, we can say that x
influences y or y depends on x. however if there is no relationship that exists
between x and y then x and y are independent of each other.

The value of r ranges from +1 through zero -1. There is a perfect positive
correlation of r = +1, likewise there is a negative perfect correlation if the
value of r = -1. However if r = 0 then there is no correlation between the two
variables x and y. If there is a positive correlation it indicates that for every
increase of y or for every decrease of x there is a corresponding decrease of
y. If there is a negative correlation it indicates that for every increase of x
there is a corresponding decrease of y, likewise for every decrease of x there
is a corresponding decrease of y, likewise for every decrease of x there is a
corresponding increase of y. The relationship is inverse.

 Correlation: The degree of relationship between the variables under consideration

is measured through the correlation analysis.
 The measure of correlation is called the correlation coefficient .
 The degree of relationship is expressed by coefficient which range from correlation
( -1 ≤ r ≥ +1)
 The direction of change is indicated by a sign.
 The correlation analysis enable us to have an idea about the degree & direction of
the relationship between the two variables under study.

The graphical representation of positive, negative and no correlation is shown

below:
Interpretation of the Correlation Coefficient

A positive correlation coefficient indicates the values of variable A vary

in the same direction as variable B. A negative coefficient indicates the
values of variable A and variable B vary in opposite directions.

Interpretation of Pearson r  

.00 to ± .20 slight or negligible correlation

±.21 to ±.40 low correlation
±.41 to ±.70 moderate correlation
±.71 to ±.90 high correlation
±.91 to ±.99 very high correlation
±1.00 perfect correlation

Interpretation: There is a (insert characterization)(positive or negative)

correlation between the variation of X scores and the variation of Y
scores.

How do we use r Pearson Product Moment Coefficient Correlation?

The Pearson Product Moment Coefficient of Correlation represented

by small letter r is determined by using the formula

n xy−x y
r=
√ n x 2−¿ ¿ ¿
Where:
r = the Pearson Product Moment Coefficient of
Correlation
n = sample size
xy = the sum of the product of x and y
x y = the product of the sum of  x and the sum of
y
 x = sum of squares of x
2

 y 2 = sum of squares of y
 Example 1. Below are the midterm (x) and final (y) grades.

x 7570 65 90 85 85 80 70 65 90
y 80 75 65 95 90 85 90 75 70 90

Statistics:

Pearson Product Moment Coefficient of Correlation

x y x
2
y
2
xy
75 80 5625 6400 6000
70 75 4900 5625 5250
65 65 4225 4225 4225
90 95 8100 9025 8550
85 90 7225 8100 7650
85 85 7225 7225 7225
80 90 6400 8100 7200
70 75 4900 5625 5250
65 70 4225 4900 4550
90 90 8100 8100 8100
x = y =  x =60,925  y =67,325
2 2
xy
775 815 64,000
x =77.5 y =81.5

n xy−x y
r=
√ n x 2−¿ ¿ ¿
10 ( 64,000 )−( 775 ) (815)
=
√ 10(60,925)−¿ ¿ ¿
8,375
=
√609,250−600,625 673,250−664,225
8,375
=
√ 8625 9025
8,375
=
√77840625
8,375
= 8822.73

r = 0.949 or 0.95 Very high correlation

Spearman's Rank-Order Correlation

When should you use the Spearman's rank-order correlation?

The Spearman's rank-order correlation is the nonparametric version of

the Pearson product-moment correlation. Spearman's correlation coefficient, (ρ,
also signified by rs) measures the strength and direction of association between
two ranked variables.
What are the assumptions of the test?

You need two variables that are either ordinal, interval or ratio (see our Types of
Variable guide if you need clarification). Although you would normally hope to use
a Pearson product-moment correlation on interval or ratio data, the Spearman
correlation can be used when the assumptions of the Pearson correlation are
markedly violated. However, Spearman's correlation determines the strength and
direction of the monotonic relationship between your two variables rather than
the strength and direction of the linear relationship between your two variables,
which is what Pearson's correlation determines.

How to rank data?

In some cases your data might already be ranked, but often you will find that you
need to rank the data yourself (or use SPSS Statistics to do it for you). Thankfully,
ranking data is not a difficult task and is easily achieved by working through your
data in a table. Let us consider the following example data regarding the marks
achieved in a maths and English exam:

Exam Marks

English 56 75 45 71 62 64 58 80 76 61

Math 66 70 40 60 65 56 59 77 67 63

The procedure for ranking these scores is as follows:

First, create a table with four columns and label them as below:

We then complete the following table:

English English Maths Rank Rank

d d2
(X) (Y) (English) (maths)

56 66 9 4 5 25

75 70 3 2 1 1

45 40 10 10 0 0

71 60 4 7 -3 9

62 65 6 5 1 1

64 56 5 9 -4 16

58 59 8 8 0 0

80 77 1 1 0 0

76 67 2 3 -1 1

61 63 7 6 1 1
Where d = difference between ranks and d2 = difference squared.

We then calculate the following:

We then substitute this into the main equation with the other information as follows:

Moderate Correlation

as n = 10. Hence, we have a ρ (or rs) of 0.67. This indicates a strong positive
relationship between the ranks individuals obtained in the maths and English exam.
That is, the higher you ranked in maths, the higher you ranked in English also, and
vice versa.