SPEARMAN’S RANK CORRELATION COEFFICIENT (NON

PARAMETRIC TEST)
Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficient or Spearman’s Rank Difference
Method or Formula is a method of calculating the correlation coefficient
of qualitative variables and was developed in 1904 by Charles Edward
Spearman. In other words, the formula determines the correlation
coefficient of variables like beauty, ability, honesty, etc., whose
quantitative measurement is not possible. Therefore, these attributes are
ranked or put in the order of their preference.

In the given formula,

rk = Coefficient of rank correlation
D = Rank differences
N = Number of variables
Three different cases of Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficient:

Case 1: When Ranks are given

In this case, the ranks of the frequency distribution or variables are already given, and
the coefficient of rank correlation is calculated based on those ranks. The formula for
calculating Spearman’s Rank Correlation is

Example:
In an art competition, two judges accorded following ranks to the 10
participants:

Judge X 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Judge Y 6 2 9 7 1 4 8 3 10 5

Calculate coefficient of rank correlation.

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Solution:

Judge X (R1) Judge Y (R2) D = R1 – R2 D2

1 6 -5 25

2 2 0 0

3 9 -6 36

4 7 -3 9

5 1 4 16

6 4 2 4

7 8 -1 1

8 3 5 25

9 10 -1 1

10 5 5 25

N = 10 ∑D2 = 142

= 1 – 0.860
= 0.14
Coefficient of Correlation (rk) = 0.14
As the rank correlation is positive and closer to 0, it means that the association
between the ranks of the two judges is weaker.

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Case 2: When Ranks are not given

When the ranks of the variables or distribution are not given, then the individual has
to rank the values themselves. While ranking the values, one has to adopt a uniform
procedure for both series of distribution. For instance, if 1st rank is given to the
lowest value of one series, then the same pattern should be followed for the second
series as well. Once the rank has been determined, the coefficient of rank correlation
is determined as the first case. The formula for calculating Spearman’s rank
correlation coefficient is

Example:
Calculate the Spearman’s Rank Correlation for the following data.

Mathematics 14 15 17 12 16 11 18 9 10

Accountancy 4 12 8 10 2 5 9 3 7

Solution:
In the given case, there are 9 values, and the ranking for both X and Y or
Mathematics and Accountancy is done by giving the highest rank to the highest value
and the lowest rank to the lowest value. Therefore, 1st rank is given to 9 in the X
series and 2 in the Y series. Similarly, the 9th rank is given to 18 in the X series and
12 in the Y series.

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Mathematics Rank Accountancy Rank D = R1 – D2
(X) R1 (Y) R2 R2

14 5 4 3 2 4

15 6 12 9 -3 9

17 8 8 6 2 4

12 4 10 8 -4 16

16 7 2 1 6 36

11 3 5 4 -1 1

18 9 9 7 2 4

9 1 3 2 -1 1

10 2 7 5 -3 9

∑D2 =
N=9
84

= 1 – 0.7
= 0.3
Coefficient of Correlation (rk) = 0.3
It means that there is a positive rank correlation of a moderate degree
of 0.3.

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Case 3: When Ranks are equal

When two or more values of a series have an equal rank, then in such cases, each
value is given the average of the two ranks. To avoid any mistake, the formula for
calculating Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficient is

Here, m1, m2, ……. are the number of times a value has repeated in the given X,
Y, …….. series, respectively.

Example:
Calculate the coefficient of rank correlation of the scores obtained by
7 students in an essay writing competition by two judges, X and Y.

X 15 12 20 16 18 20 26

Y 10 15 11 11 25 18 30

Solution:
In the given case, there are 7 values or students, and ranks have been
given as highest rank to the highest score and lowest rank to the lowest
score. For instance, for scores given by Judge X, 1st rank is given to
the score of 26 and for the scores given by Judge Y, 1st rank is given to
the score of 30.

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X Rank Y Rank D D2
R1 R2

15 6 10 7 -1 1

12 7 15 4 3 9

20 2.5 11 5.5 -3 9

16 5 11 5.5 -0.5 0.25

18 4 25 2 2 4

20 2.5 18 3 -0.5 0.25

26 1 30 1 0 0

∑D2 =
23.5

Judge X has given 20 scores to two students who are in the place of 2nd and 3rd
rank. Therefore, the average of both ranks, i.e., (2+3)/2 = 2.5 rank has been given to
both students.
Similarly, Judge Y has given 11 scores to two students who are in the place of 5th
and 6th rank. Therefore, the average of both ranks, i.e., (5+6)/2 = 5.5 has been
given to both students.
Also, in series X, the number 20 is repeated twice, and in Y series, the number 11 is
repeated twice. Therefore, m for series X or m1 is 2 and m for series Y or m2 is 2.

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 = 1 – 0.4375 = 0.5625

Coefficient of Correlation = 0.56

The positive correlation coefficient of 0.56 means that around 56% of
the variation is related.