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Correlation Notes(3)

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14 views

Correlation Notes(3)

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kainat
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Correlation

There are two types of correlation: Bivariate and Partial

Bivariate Correlation: it is a correlation between two variables.

Partial Correlation: It looks at the relationship between two variables while


controlling the effect of one or more additional variables.

Types of Bivariate Correlation Coefficients: Pearson’s Product Moment


Correlation Coefficient and Spearman’s Rho.

Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient

The Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (Pearson’s correlation, for


short) is a measure of the strength and direction of association that exists between
two variables measured on at least an interval scale. Correlation generally
describes the effect that two or more phenomena occur together and therefore they
are linked.

Assumption #1: Your two variables should be measured at the interval or ratio
level (i.e., they are continuous).

Assumption #2: There is a linear relationship between your two variables. A linear
relationship exists when two quantities/variables are proportional to each other. If
you increase one of the quantities, the other quantity either increases or decreases
at a constant rate. This linearity assumption is checked through a scatterplot (the
relationship between two variables must graph as a straight line). A scatterplot is a
graph that plots each person’s score on one variable against their score on another
variable. It visualizes the relationship between the variables.

Simple scatter: Use this option to plot values of one continuous variable against
another.

Scatter-plot matrix = This type of plot allows you to see the relationship between
all combinations of many different pairs of variables.
Non-linear Relationship Example = When you first start driving you are less
experienced and, sometimes, more reckless. As you age, you gain more experience
(and sense) and it becomes less likely that you’re involved in an accident.
However, this trend won’t continue forever. When you reach old age your eyesight
may deteriorate or your reactions may slow. Now, as you age, it becomes more
likely that you’re involved in an accident. This means the probability of an
accident has a non-linear relationship with age.

When all the points on the scatter diagram tend to lie near a smooth curve, the
correlation is said to be non-linear (curvilinear).
Assumption #3: There should be no significant outliers.

Assumption #4: Your variables should be approximately normally distributed.


A one tailed test should be selected when you have a directional hypothesis.
(Family conflict is likely to have a positive relationship with intimate partner
violence). A two tailed test should be used when you do not have a directional
hypothesis (Family conflict is likely to have a relationship with intimate partner
violence).

A correlation expresses the strength of linkage or co-occurrence between two


variables in a single value between -1 and +1. This value that measures the strength
of linkage is called correlation coefficient, which is represented typically as the
letter r.

A positive r value expresses a positive relationship between the two variables (the
larger A, the larger B) while a negative r value indicates a negative relationship
(the larger A, the smaller B). A correlation coefficient of zero indicates no
relationship between the variables at all. However, r values are interpreted as
significant only when significant p value is less than .05 or .01 or .001.

Degree of Correlation
Strong correlation: If the coefficient value lies between .50 and 1, then it is said
to be a strong correlation.
Moderate correlation: If the value lies between 0.30 and 0.49, then it is said to be
a moderate correlation.
Small correlation: When the correlation coefficient value is below .30, it is called
small correlation.

The Spearman rank-order correlation coefficient (Spearman’s correlation, for


short) is a nonparametric measure of the strength and direction of association that
exists between two variables measured on at least an ordinal scale. It is denoted by
the symbol rs (or the Greek letter ρ, pronounced rho). The test is used for either
ordinal variables or for continuous data that has failed the assumptions necessary
for conducting the Pearson's product-moment correlation.

An ordinal variable is a categorical variable for which the possible values are
ordered.

Your two variables should be measured on an ordinal, interval or ratio scale.


Examples of ordinal variables include Likert scales (e.g., a 7-point scale from
"strongly agree" through to "strongly disagree"), amongst other ways of ranking
categories (e.g., a 3-point scale explaining how much a customer liked a product,
ranging from "Not very much", to "It is OK", to "Yes, a lot").

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