Statistics for the Social Sciences Psychology 340 Spring 2005 Prediction cont.
SSF1063: Statistics for Social Sciences
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Transcript of SSF1063: Statistics for Social Sciences
SSF1063: Statistics for Social Sciences
LU11: Linear Correlation 31st March 2008
CorrelationCorrelation To examine the relationship between two
(bivariate) continuous variables Some commonly used jargons:
Linear and Non-linear Relationship Correlation Scatterplot diagram Correlation Coefficient Pearson (Product-Moment r)
A descriptive statistics Describe the degree and direction of
linear correlation between two quantitative variables
Class size and students’ test performance Hours of work and income
CorrelationCorrelation
The General Idea About The General Idea About CorrelationCorrelation Two variables may correlate to each other in
3 possible ways: Positive RelationshipPositive Relationship: Both variables vary in the same same direction - as
one goes up, the other goes up. Eg. salary and years of education are
positively correlated because the people who make the highest salaries tend to be the ones who have gone to school the longest
Negative RelationshipNegative Relationship: Two variables vary in the oppositeopposite
direction - as one goes up, the other goes down.
For example, the longer the hour of working mother works outside the home, less time is available to spend with children.
The General Idea About The General Idea About CorrelationCorrelation
The General Idea About The General Idea About CorrelationCorrelation Zero RelationshipZero Relationship: Two variables vary with freely without any
kind of rules or relationship. For example, the relationship between
personality fluctuations and the movement of distant stars has a zero correlation. Bona fide studies have found that there is absolutely no correlation between the position of stars at the time you are born and the true nature of your personality
The degree of correlation between two variables can be established using two methods:
ScatterplotScatterplot – a graph with plotted values for two variables being compared
Correlation CoefficientCorrelation Coefficient
Degree of Correlation: How Strongly Are Variables Correlated?
Pearson correlation only measures relationships in variables that are linearly related.
The correlation coefficient shows the slope of straight line passing through the data cloud. It ranges between –1 r +1.
r shows the magnitude and direction of a relationship
Watch up A correlation coefficient of zero does not
mean that there isn’t any relationship between two variables. It is possible that the two variables are strongly related in nonlinear way.
ScatterplotScatterplot
Steps to get scarterplot diagram:
Graph Scatter Simple
Define Select the appropriate variables to the test variable cell OK
Correlation CoefficientCorrelation Coefficient
CorrelationCorrelation characterizes the existence of a relationship between variables
Correlation coefficientCorrelation coefficient is a quantitative indicator of the degree of relationship between variables
There are several measures of correlations depending to the nature of variables being investigated. The most commonly used measure of correlation is called Pearson product moment Pearson product moment correlation correlation (denoted by rr)
Each measure of correlation uses different kind of rules and modeling
CORRELATIONCORRELATION
Computing The Correlation Computing The Correlation CoefficientsCoefficients
Pearson Product Moment (r)Pearson Product Moment (r)
The Pearson correlation r can be computed using the formula:
Eg 1.Eg 1.
Compute the correlation between the men’s Heights (in inches) and Weights (in pounds) for the following data:
ManManHeight Height
(X)(X)
Weight Weight
(Y)(Y)
M.P. 72 190
T.D. 66 135
C.Q. 69 155
C.Y. 72 165
D.P. 71 155
Note that the paired data are in the form of interval-interval. Thus, the most suitable correlation measure would be Pearson product moment.
Computation of Computation of rr ::
Correlation from SPSS – Analyse Correlate Bivariate
Correlations
1 .880**
.000
474 474
.880** 1
.000
474 474
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
Current Salary
Beginning Salary
Current SalaryBeginning
Salary
Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).**.
The correlation value, 0.767, indicate that there exist positive linear relationship between the body length and body weight in the samples of lizards.
Correlations
1 .767**
. .000
25 25
.767** 1
.000 .
25 25
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
BODYL
WEIGHT
BODYL WEIGHT
Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level(2-tailed).
**.
Pearson Correlation 0.8335Sig. (2-tailed) 0.0795N 5
Pearson Correlation -0.9499Sig. (2-tailed) 0.0000N 10
Pearson Correlation 0.1047Sig. (2-tailed) 0.8669N 5
Correlation Coefficient -0.0952Sig. (2-tailed) 0.8225N 8
Pearson Eg.1Pearson Eg.1
Pearson Eg.2Pearson Eg.2
Pearson Eg.3Pearson Eg.3
Spearman Eg.1Spearman Eg.1
When is a correlation ‘strong enough’?When is a correlation ‘strong enough’?(Guilford’s rough guide only)(Guilford’s rough guide only)
< 0.2< 0.2 slight; almost negligible relationship
0.2 – 0.40.2 – 0.4 low correlation; definite but small relationship
0.4 – 0.70.4 – 0.7 moderate correlation; substantial relationship
0.7 – 0.90.7 – 0.9 high correlation; marked relationship
> 0.9> 0.9 very high correlation; very dependable relationship
Words of CautionWords of Caution
Examine your data distribution (i.e. using scatterplot) before you do anything with the correlation and make sure you know the do’sdo’s and don’tsdon’ts with correlation coefficients!Correlation coefficient is just an index of relationship which tells nothing about the ‘cause and effect’cause and effect’ of the relationship! The correlation coefficient tells you nothing about the reasons of the relationship, if any.Limit yourself to linearlinear relationship if you don’t have adequate statistical background!