Pearson's Product-Moment Correlation using SPSS Statistics

Introduction
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.

For example, you could use a Pearson’s correlation to understand whether there is an
association between exam performance and time spent revising. You could also use a
Pearson's correlation to understand whether there is an association between depression and
length of unemployment.

A Pearson’s correlation attempts to draw a line of best fit through the data of two variables,
and the Pearson correlation coefficient, r, indicates how far away all these data points are
from this line of best fit (i.e., how well the data points fit this model/line of best fit). You can
learn more in our more general guide on Pearson's correlation, which we recommend if you
are not familiar with this test.

Note: If one of your two variables is dichotomous you can use a point-biserial correlation
instead, or if you have one or more control variables, you can run a Pearson's partial
correlation.

This "quick start" guide shows you how to carry out a Pearson's correlation using SPSS
Statistics, as well as interpret and report the results from this test. However, before we
introduce you to this procedure, you need to understand the different assumptions that your
data must meet in order for a Pearson's correlation to give you a valid result. We discuss
these assumptions next.

SPSS Statistics
Assumptions
When you choose to analyze your data using Pearson’s correlation, part of the process
involves checking to make sure that the data you want to analyze can actually be analyzed
using Pearson’s correlation. You need to do this because it is only appropriate to use
Pearson’s correlation if your data "passes" four assumptions that are required for Pearson’s
correlation to give you a valid result. In practice, checking for these four assumptions just
adds a little bit more time to your analysis, requiring you to click of few more buttons in
SPSS Statistics when performing your analysis, as well as think a little bit more about your
data, but it is not a difficult task.
Before we introduce you to these four assumptions, do not be surprised if, when analyzing
your own data using SPSS Statistics, one or more of these assumptions is violated (i.e., is not
met). This is not uncommon when working with real-world data rather than textbook
examples, which often only show you how to carry out Pearson’s correlation when
everything goes well! However, don’t worry. Even when your data fails certain assumptions,
there is often a solution to overcome this. First, let’s take a look at these four assumptions:

Assumption #1: Your two variables should be measured at the interval or ratio level (i.e., they
are continuous). Examples of variables that meet this criterion include revision time
(measured in hours), intelligence (measured using IQ score), exam performance (measured
from 0 to 100), weight (measured in kg), and so forth. You can learn more about interval and
ratio variables in our Types of Variable guide.
Assumption #2: There is a linear relationship between your two variables. Whilst there are a
number of ways to check whether a linear relationship exists between your two variables, we
suggest creating a scatterplot using SPSS Statistics, where you can plot the one variable
against the other variable, and then visually inspect the scatterplot to check for linearity. Your
scatterplot may look something like one of the following:
Linear and nonlinear relationships

If the relationship displayed in your scatterplot is not linear, you will have to either run a
nonparametric equivalent to Pearson’s correlation or transform your data, which you can do
using SPSS Statistics. In our enhanced guides, we show you how to: (a) create a scatterplot to
check for linearity when carrying out Pearson’s correlation using SPSS Statistics; (b)
interpret different scatterplot results; and (c) transform your data using SPSS Statistics if
there is not a linear relationship between your two variables.

Note: Pearson's correlation determines the degree to which a relationship is linear. Put
another way, it determines whether there is a linear component of association between two
continuous variables. As such, linearity is not actually an assumption of Pearson's correlation.
However, you would not normally want to pursue a Pearson's correlation to determine the
strength and direction of a linear relationship when you already know the relationship
between your two variables is not linear. Instead, the relationship between your two variables
might be better described by another statistical measure. For this reason, it is not uncommon
to view the relationship between your two variables in a scatterplot to see if running a
Pearson's correlation is the best choice as a measure of association or whether another
measure would be better.

Assumption #3: There should be no significant outliers. Outliers are simply single data points
within your data that do not follow the usual pattern (e.g., in a study of 100 students’ IQ
scores, where the mean score was 108 with only a small variation between students, one
student had a score of 156, which is very unusual, and may even put her in the top 1% of IQ
scores globally). The following scatterplots highlight the potential impact of outliers:
The effect of an outlier on a Pearson correlation.

Pearson’s correlation coefficient, r, is sensitive to outliers, which can have a very large effect
on the line of best fit and the Pearson correlation coefficient. Therefore, in some cases,
including outliers in your analysis can lead to misleading results. Therefore, it is best if there
are no outliers or they are kept to a minimum. Fortunately, when using SPSS Statistics to run
Pearson’s correlation on your data, you can easily include procedures to screen for outliers. In
our enhanced Pearson’s correlation guide, we: (a) show you how to detect outliers using a
scatterplot, which is a simple process when using SPSS Statistics; and (b) discuss some of the
options available to you in order to deal with outliers.
Assumption #4: Your variables should be approximately normally distributed. In order to
assess the statistical significance of the Pearson correlation, you need to have bivariate
normality, but this assumption is difficult to assess, so a simpler method is more commonly
used. This simpler method involves determining the normality of each variable separately. To
test for normality you can use the Shapiro-Wilk test of normality, which is easily tested for
using SPSS Statistics. In addition to showing you how to do this in our enhanced Pearson’s
correlation guide, we also explain what you can do if your data fails this assumption.

Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient

The Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (Pearson’s correlation, for short) is a

Example:

A researcher wants to know whether a person's height is related to how well they perform
in a long jump. The researcher recruited untrained individuals from the general population,
measured their height and had them perform a long jump. The researcher then investigated
whether there was an association between height and long jump performance by running a
Pearson's correlation.

Heigh
Student Jump Distance
t
1 1.63 2.34
2 1.8 2.48
3 1.75 2.29
4 1.86 2.62
5 1.73 2.64
 6 1.71 2.30
7 1.75 2.44
8 1.96 2.67
9 1.6 2.39
10 1.68 2.47
11 1.8 2.60
12 1.87 2.75
13 1.74 2.40
14 1.67 2.46

1. State the hypotheses. The first step is to state the null hypothesis and an alternative
hypothesis
H0: There is no statistically significant relationship between Students’ height and
Jump Distance.
2. Ha: There is a statistically significant relationship between Students’ height and
Jump Distance
3. Level of significance α = .01
4. Open SPSS and enter the data in the data editor
5. Click Analyze > Correlate > Bivariate... on the main menu as shown below:
6. Move Height and Jump Distance on Variables , Select Pearson, Two-tailed, flag
significant correlations and click OK

7. Results

Correlations

Height Jump Distance

Pearson Correlation 1 .706**

Height Sig. (2-tailed) .005

N 14 14
Pearson Correlation .706** 1

Jump Distance Sig. (2-tailed) .005

N 14 14

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

8. Decision and Conclusion.