CORRELATIONAL STUDIES

• PURPOSE – To establish there is

relationship, and strength of
relationship between two or more
quantitative variables based on a
coefficient value

• PURPOSE – To ascertain there

exist a relationship or to use
relationships to predict
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 CORRELATIONAL STUDIES
• EXAMPLE:
• Relationship between achievement in
English and achievement in Mathematics
• Variables that have strong
relationships vs variable that is the
cause and it affects another variable
• (EXAMPLE: Relationship between self
concept and achievement)

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COEFFICIENT OF
DETERMINATION
• ASSESSES THE PROPORTION OF
VARIABILITY IN ONE VARIABLE THAT CAN
BE DETERMINED OR EXPLAINED BY A
SECOND VARIABLE
• e.g.
• r = .7
• r2 = .49 = 49%
• i.e. 49% of the variability in Y can be
determined or explained by X
• E.g. parents' education level explains
49% of students satisfaction
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EXAMPLES OF
CORRELATIONAL STUDIES
• Relationships between grades obtained
through criterion reference for several
subjects
• Prediction of success at the graduate
level based on inter-correlational
patterns of variables at the
undergraduate level
• Relationships between family work
conflicts, self efficacy and mental
health amongst accountants
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SCATTERGRAM OF ‘r’

Y
HIGH

LOW

LOW HIGH X
PERFECT POSITIVE CORRELATION (+1.00)
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SCATTERGRAM OF ‘r’

Y
HIGH

LOW

LOW HIGH X

PERFECT NEGATIVE CORRELATION (-1.00) 6

SCATTERGRAM OF ‘r’

Y
HIGH

LOW

LOW HIGH X

HIGH POSITIVE CORRELATION ( .83) 7

SCATTERGRAM OF ‘r’

Y
HIGH

LOW

LOW HIGH X

SUBSTANTIAL NEGATIVE CORRELATION (- .76)

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SCATTERGRAM OF ‘r’

Y
HIGH

LOW

LOW HIGH X

MODERATE POSITIVE CORRELATION (.57) 9

 SCATTERGRAM OF ‘r’
Y
HIGH

LOW

LOW HIGH X
ZERO CORRELATION (0.00)

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 COEFFICIENT OF CORRELATION
(BIVARIATE)
• PEARSON’S PRODUCT MOMENT COEFFICIENT OF CORRELATION - a
continuous variable and a continuous variable
• POINT BISERIAL CORRELATION - a dichotomous (natural binary) and a
continuous variable (e.g. Does Drug A or Drug B improve depression?
Are women or men likely to earn more as nurses?)
• BISERIAL CORRELATION - a dichotomous (artificial binary) and a
continuous variable, (e.g. depression level measured on a continuous
scale, but classified dichotomously as high/low)
• PHI (Φ) COEFFICIENT - measure of the degree of association between
two binary variables, (e.g. gender x married status)
• CONTINGENCY COEFFICIENT (C) - a coefficient of association that tells
whether two variables or data sets are independent or dependent of
each other.
• SPEARMAN’S RHO COEFFICIENT OF CORRELATION – an ordinal variable
and an ordinal variable

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