International Education

with an
Australian Experience
QUANTITAIVE METHODS
WEEK 7
Dr. Zahra Sadeghinejad
 Correlation
Correlation: is a statistical technique used to determine the degree to
which two variables are related

Scatter diagram
• Rectangular coordinate
• Two quantitative variables
• One variable is called independent (X) and the second is called
dependent (Y)
Y
• Points are not joined * *
*
• No frequency table X
 Example
Weight and systolic blood pressure

Wt. 67 69 85 83 74 81 97 92 114 85
(kg)
SBP 120 125 140 160 130 180 150 140 200 130
(mmHg)
 Wt. 67 69 85 83 74 81 97 92 114 85
SBP(mmHg) (kg)
SBP 120 125 140 160 130 180 150 140 200 130
(mmHg)

220
200
180
160
140
120
100
80 wt (kg)
60 70 80 90 100 110 120

Scatter Diagram Of Weight And Systolic Blood

Pressure
SBP (mmHg)
220

200

180

160

140

120

100

80
Wt (kg)
60 70 80 90 100 110 120

Scatter diagram of weight and systolic blood pressure

 Scatter Plots

The pattern of data is indicative of the type of relationship between your two variables:
positive relationship
negative relationship
no relationship
 Degree of Correlation

• Strong Positive relationship

r = +.80

Weight

Height
 Degree of Correlation

• Moderate Positive Correlation

r = + 0.4
Shoe
Size

Weight
 Degree of Correlation

• Perfect Negative Correlation

r = -1.0
TV
watching
per
week

Exam score
 Degree of Correlation

• Moderate Negative Correlation

r = -.80
TV
watching
per
week

Exam score
 Degree of Correlation

• Weak negative Correlation

Shoe
r = - 0.2
Size

Weight
 Negative Relationship

Reliability

Age of Car
 Degree of Correlation

• No Correlation (horizontal line)

r = 0.0
IQ

Height
No Relation
 Degree Of Correlation (R)

r = +.80 r = +.60

r = +.20
r = +.40
SUMMARY

Correlation can have a value:

•1 is a perfect positive correlation

•0 is no correlation (the values don't seem linked at all)
•-1 is a perfect negative correlation
 Correlation Coefficient
Statistic showing the degree of relation between two variables

Simple Correlation coefficient (r)

It is also called Pearson's correlation or product moment correlation
coefficient.
It measures the nature and strength between two variables of
the quantitative type.
The sign of r denotes the nature of association
while the value of r denotes the strength of association.
 Correlation Coefficient

If the sign is +ve this means the relation is direct (an increase in one
variable is associated with an increase in the
other variable and a decrease in one variable is associated with a
decrease in the other variable).

While if the sign is -ve this means an inverse or indirect relationship (which
means an increase in one variable is associated with a decrease in the
other).
 Correlation Coefficient
The value of r ranges between ( -1) and ( +1)
The value of r denotes the strength of the association as illustrated
by the following diagram.

strong intermediate weak weak intermediate strong

-1 -0.75 -0.25 0 0.25 0.75 1

indirect Direct
perfect perfect
correlation correlation
no relation
 Correlation Coefficient
If r = Zero this means no association or correlation between the two
variables.

If 0 < r < 0.25 = weak correlation.

If 0.25 ≤ r < 0.75 = intermediate correlation.

If 0.75 ≤ r < 1 = strong correlation.

If r = l = perfect correlation.
 Correlation Coefficient
How to compute the simple correlation coefficient (r)

 xy   x y
r n

x 
2
(  x) 2
 
.  y 
2
(  y) 2


 n  n 
  
 Example
A sample of 6 children was selected, data about their age in years and weight
in kilograms was recorded as shown in the following table . It is required to
find the correlation between age and weight.

serial Age Weight

No (years) (Kg)
1 7 12
2 6 8
3 8 12
4 5 10
5 6 11
6 9 13
These 2 variables are of the quantitative type, one variable (Age) is
called the independent and denoted as (X) variable and the other
(weight)
is called the dependent and denoted as (Y) variables to find the relation
between age and weight compute the simple correlation coefficient
using the following formula:

 xy   x y
r  n
 ( x) 2  ( y) 2 
x 
2 .  y 
2 
 n  n 
  
 Age Weight
Serial
(years) (Kg) xy X2 Y2
n.
(x) (y)
1 7 12 84 49 144
2 6 8 48 36 64
3 8 12 96 64 144
4 5 10 50 25 100
5 6 11 66 36 121
6 9 13 117 81 169
Total ∑x= ∑y= ∑xy= ∑x2= ∑y2=
41 66 461 291 742
 41  66
461 
r 6
 (41) 2   (66) 2 
291  .742  
 6  6 

r = 0.759
strong direct correlation
 Example

Relationship Between Anxiety And Test Scores

Anxiety Test score

(X) (Y)

10 2
8 3
2 9
1 7
5 6
6 5
Anxiety Test X2 Y2 XY
(X) score (Y)
10 2 100 4 20
8 3 64 9 24
2 9 4 81 18
1 7 1 49 7
5 6 25 36 30
6 5 36 25 30
∑X = 32 ∑Y = 32 ∑X2 = 230 ∑Y2 = 204 ∑XY=129
Anxiety Test X2 Y2 XY
(X) score (Y)
10 2 100 4 20
8 3 64 9 24
2 9 4 81 18
1 7 1 49 7
5 6 25 36 30
6 5 36 25 30
∑X = 32 ∑Y = 32 ∑X2 = 230 ∑Y2 = 204 ∑XY=129
Calculating Correlation Coefficient

(6)(129)  (32)(32) 774  1024

r   .94
6(230)  32 6(204)  32 
2 2
(356)( 200)

r = - 0.94
Indirect strong correlation
Exercise
 Example: Ice Cream Sales

• The local ice cream shop keeps track of how much ice cream they sell versus the
temperature on that day, here are their figures for the last 12 days:
Ice Cream Sales vs Temperature
Temperature °C Ice Cream Sales
14.2° $215
16.4° $325
11.9° $185
15.2° $332
18.5° $406
22.1° $522
19.4° $412
25.1° $614
23.4° $544
18.1° $421
22.6° $445
17.2° $408
And here is the same data as a scatter plot:
• We can easily see that warmer weather and higher sales go together. The
relationship is good but not perfect.
• In fact the correlation is 0.9575