Chapter 3.

Correlation Analysis
SPSS – Correlation analysis
Correlations measure how variables are related.

Data. Use symmetric quantitative variables for Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Before calculating a
correlation coefficient, screen your data for outliers (which can cause misleading results).

Assumptions. Pearson’s correlation coefficient assumes that each pair of variables is bivariate normal and
it is a measure of linear association. Two variables can be perfectly related, but if the relationship is not
linear, Pearson’s correlation coefficient is not an appropriate statistic for measuring their association.

Example. Is satisfaction at work correlated with leisure satisfaction? A scatterplot indicates that there is a
linear relationship.

140

120
Satisfaction at work, first dimension

100

80

60

40
40 60 80 100 120 140 160

Leisure satisfaction, first dimension

Bivariate correlations. To obtain bivariate correlations, from the menus choose:

Analyze –> Correlate –> Bivariate ...

Select two or more numeric variables.
Test of Significance. You can select two-tailed or one-tailed probabilities. If the direction of association is
known in advance, select One-tailed. Otherwise, select Two-tailed.

Flag significant correlations. Correlation coefficients significant at the 0.05 level are identified with a
single asterisk, and those significant at the 0.01 level are identified with two asterisks.

Satisfaction at work Leisure satisfaction

Pearson Correlation 1 .598**
Satisfaction at work Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 100
Pearson Correlation .598** 1
Leisure satisfaction Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 100
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

The correlations table displays Pearson correlation coefficients, significance values, and the number of
cases with non-missing values (N). The values of the correlation coefficient range from -1 to 1. The sign of
the correlation coefficient indicates the direction of the relationship (positive or negative). The absolute
value of the correlation coefficient indicates the strength, with larger absolute values indicating stronger
relationships. The correlation coefficients on the main diagonal are always 1, because each variable has a
perfect positive linear relationship with itself.

The significance of each correlation coefficient is also displayed in the correlation table. The significance
level (or p-value) is the probability of obtaining results as extreme as the one observed. If the significance
level is very small (less than 0.05) then the correlation is significant and the two variables are linearly
related. If the significance level is relatively large (for example, 0.50) then the correlation is not significant
and the two variables are not linearly related.

Partial correlations. To obtain partial correlations, from the menus choose:

Analyze –> Correlate –> Partial...

Select two or more numeric variables for which partial correlations are to be computed. Select one or more
numeric control variables.

In this case, we extract the variance of general satisfaction from the correlation between satisfaction at
work and leisure satisfaction.
PARTIAL CORRELATION COEFFICIENTS
Controlling for… General satisfaction

Satisfaction at work Leisure satisfaction

.1338
Satisfaction at work 1 (97)
P= .187
.1338
Leisure satisfaction (97) 1
P= .187
(Coefficient / (D.F.) / 2-tailed Significance)

As we can see, the correlation between satisfaction at work and leisure satisfaction when general
satisfaction is maintained constant is not significant (p > 0.05)