Pearson's Product-Moment Correlation

using SPSS
Introduction
The Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (Pearsons 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
Pearsons correlation to understand whether there is an association between exam
performance and time spent revising; whether there is an association between
depression and length of unemployment; and so forth. A Pearsons 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 to this line
of best fit (i.e., how well the data points fit this new model/line of best fit). You can
learn more here, which we recommend if you are not familiar with this test. If one of
your variables is dichotomous you can use a point-biserial correlation instead.
This "quick start" guide shows you how to carry out a Pearson's correlation using
SPSS, 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.

Assumptions
When you choose to analyse your data using Pearsons correlation, part of the process
involves checking to make sure that the data you want to analyse can actually be
analysed using Pearsons correlation. You need to do this because it is only
appropriate to use Pearsons correlation if your data "passes" four assumptions that
are required for Pearsons 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 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
analysing your own data using SPSS, 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 Pearsons
correlation when everything goes well! However, dont worry. Even when your data
fails certain assumptions, there is often a solution to overcome this. First, lets take a
look at these four assumptions:
o

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 article:Types of Variable.
Assumption #2: There needs to be a linear relationship between the 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, where you can plot the dependent variable against your
independent variable, and then visually inspect the scatterplot to check for
linearity. Your scatterplot may look something like one of the following:

If the relationship displayed in your scatterplot is not linear, you will have to
either run a non-parametric equivalent to Pearsons correlation or transform
your data, which you can do using SPSS. In our enhanced guides, we show you
how to: (a) create a scatterplot to check for linearity when carrying out
Pearsons correlation using SPSS; (b) interpret different scatterplot results; and

(c) transform your data using SPSS if there is not a linear relationship between
your two variables.
o

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:

Pearsons r is sensitive to outliers, which can have a very large effect on the
line of best fit and the Pearson correlation coefficient, leading to very difficult
conclusions regarding your data. Therefore, it is best if there are no outliers or
they are kept to a minimum. Fortunately, when using SPSS to run Pearsons
correlation on your data, you can easily include criteria to help you detect
possible outliers. In our enhanced Pearsons correlation guide, we: (a) show
you how to detect outliers using "casewise diagnostics", which is a simple
process when using SPSS; and (b) discuss some of the options you have in
order to deal with outliers.
o

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 known as

the Shapiro-Wilk test of normality, which is easily tested for using SPSS. In
addition to showing you how to do this in our enhanced Pearsons correlation
guide, we also explain what you can do if your data fails this assumption.
You can check assumptions #2, #3 and #4 using SPSS. We suggest testing these
assumptions in this order because it represents an order where, if a violation to the
assumption is not correctable, you will no longer be able to use Pearsons correlation
(although you may be able to run another statistical test on your data instead). Just
remember that if you do not run the statistical tests on these assumptions correctly, the
results you get when running a Pearson's correlation might not be valid. This is why
we dedicate a number of sections of our enhanced Pearson's correlation guide to help
you get this right. You can find out about our enhanced content as a whole here, or
more specifically, learn how we help with testing assumptions here.
In the section, Procedure, we illustrate the SPSS procedure to perform a Pearsons
correlation assuming that no assumptions have been violated. First, we set out the
example we use to explain the Pearsons correlation procedure in SPSS.

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 is an association between height and long
jump performance.

Setup in SPSS
In SPSS, we created two variables so that we could enter our data: Height (i.e., the
person's height) and Jump_Dist (i.e., long jump distance). In our enhanced Pearson's
correlation guide, we show you how to correctly enter data in SPSS to run a Pearson's
correlation. You can learn about our enhanced data setup content here. Alternately, we
have a generic, "quick start" guide to show you how to enter data into SPSS,
available here.

Test Procedure in SPSS

The six steps below show you how to analyse your data using Pearsons correlation in
SPSS when none of the four assumptions in the previous section, Assumptions, have
been violated. At the end of these six steps, we show you how to interpret the results
from this test. If you are looking for help to make sure your data meets assumptions
#2, #3 and #4, which are required when using Pearsons correlations, and can be
tested using SPSS, you can learn more about our enhanced guides here.

Click Analyze > Correlate > Bivariate... on the menu system as shown below:

Published with written permission from SPSS Inc., an IBM Company.

You will be presented with the following screen:

Published with written permission from SPSS Inc., an IBM Company.

Transfer the variables Height and Jump_Dist into the Variables: box by dragging-and-dropping or
by clicking the

button. You will end up with a screen similar to the one below:

Published with written permission from SPSS Inc., an IBM Company.

Note: If you study involves calculating more than one correlation and you want to carry out
these correlations at the same time, we show you how to do this in our enhanced Pearsons
correlation guide. We also show you how to write up the results from multiple correlations.

Make sure that the Pearson tickbox is checked under the -Correlation Coefficients- area (although it
is selected by default in SPSS).

Click the
button. If you wish to generate some descriptives, you can do it here by
clicking on the relevant tickbox under the-Statistics- area.

Published with written permission from SPSS Inc., an IBM Company.

Click the

Click the

button.
button.