CORRELATION

Examples

LC Auman
 1
Rater Color rating Taste rating

1 5 7
A teabag researcher wishes to
2 4 6
investigate whether perceived
3 5 10
pleasantness of the color of his
4 2 1
brewed tea is related to the
5 5 8
perceived pleasantness of its taste.
6 3 6
He asks 15 subjects to rate his tea’s 7 4 6
color on a seven-point scale that 8 6 5
ranges from 1 = very unpleasant to 7 9 6 6
= very pleasant, and also to rate its 10 5 9
taste on a ten-point scale that ranges 11 4 8
from 1 = very unpleasant to 10 = very 12 5 5
pleasant. The data are shown in the 13 5 5
table. 14 1 3
15 4 4
Variables

X: perceived pleasantness of color

Y: perceived pleasantness of taste

Hypotheses

H0: The perceived pleasantness of the color of the brewed tea is

not related to the perceived pleasantness of its taste.
ρ=0

H1: The perceived pleasantness of the color of the brewed tea is

related to the perceived pleasantness of its taste.
ρ≠0
 SPSS Output

Correlations

color rating taste rating

color rating Pearson Correlation 1 .562*
Sig. (2-tailed) . .029
N 15 15
taste rating Pearson Correlation .562* 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .029 .
N 15 15
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Results and Conclusion

There is a significant moderate positive correlation between perceived pleasantness of the color
of the brewed tea (M=4.27, SD=1.39) and perceived pleasantness of its taste (M=5.93,
SD=2.31), r(13) = 0.562, p=.029, two-tailed. This indicates that the more pleasant the color of
the tea is perceived to be, the more pleasant the taste is also perceived to be.
 2

To what extent is crowding in a

neighborhood related to the crime
rate in that neighborhood? A city’s
neighborhoods are rated according to
the room occupancy rate (ROR, the
number of occupants in a dwelling
divided by the number of rooms in
that dwelling) and the number of
Ames police were summoned to that
neighborhood in the past year.
Problem: To what extent is crowding in a neighborhood related to
the crime rate in that neighborhood?

Variables:
X: crowding (ROR)
Y: crimes

Hypotheses:
H0: There is no relationship between crowding and crimes.

𝝆=0
H1: There is a relationship between crowding and crimes.

𝝆≠0
Results and Conclusion

Correlational analysis showed a

strong positive correlation between
ROR (M=1.008, SD=0.6244) and
crimes (M=42.67, SD=9.129),
r(10)=0.683, p=.014. This indicates
that the more crowded a
neighborhood is, the more crimes
there tend to be.
 Variables that may or have been found to be
negatively correlated

• social support and stress: The more social support one has, the lower the
stress tends to be.

• age of onset of disorder and severity: The earlier/younger a disorder occurs,

the more severe the prognosis tends to be.

• The cooler the temperature, the more tempting a hot broth becomes.

• The more sick you are (if a high score indicates severity), the poorer your
appetite tends to be.

• time spent studying and grade (IF 1.0 is highest and 5.0 is lowest): The more
time a college student spends studying, the better the grade tends to be.

• Positive correlation: The more time a student spends studying, the

higher the exam score tends to be.