Spearmans Rank

Correlation
Coefficient

Spearmans Rank Correlation

Coefficient
Spearman's rank correlation
coefficient or Spearman's rho is
named after Charles Spearman
This is used to determined the
strength of relationship between two
variables of ordinal type.
Used Greek letter (rho)(nonparametric measure of statistical
dependence between two variables)

The formula used is:

1
Where: r

6 d

n(n 1)
2

= rank correlation coefficient

= sum
d 2 of the squared differences between the sets of ranks.

n = total number of observation.

Interpretation of Rank Correlation

Coefficient ()
The value of rank correlation coefficient,
ranges from -1 to +1.
-1
0
+1
Perfect Negative
Correlation

No Correlation

Perfect Positive
Correlation

The + sign indicates a positive correlation

(the scores on one variable increase as the
scores on the other variable increase)
The - sign indicates a negative correlation
(the scores on one variable increase, the
scores on the other variable decrease)

 Correlation scale:
Value of

Interpretation

+/- .80 to +/- .99

High correlation

+/- .60 to +/- .79

Moderately high
correlation

+/- .40 to +/- .59

Moderate correlation

+/- .20 to +/- .39

Low correlation

+/- .10 to +/- .19

Negligible correlation

Interpretation:
The sign of the Spearman correlation
indicates the direction of association
between X (the independent
variable) and Y (the dependent
variable)
If Y tends to increase when X
increases, the Spearman correlation
coefficient is positive
If Y tends to decrease when X
increases, the Spearman correlation
coefficient is negative
A Spearman correlation of zero

Example#1
The table below shows the rating
of a group of ten supervisors who
have been evaluated
independently for leadership on a
scale of 1-10 by the production
manager and by the workers
whom they supervise. Calculate
to determine if there is a
correlation between the two

Superviso Workers
r
Evaluation
(X)
4
A
2
B
2
C
1
D
7
E
9
F
3
G
5
H
2
I
7
J

Workers
Evaluation
(Y)
3
4
5
1
7
8
6
8
5
3

Solution: Construct a table.

Supervi
sor

Rank of
X

Rank of
Y

d2

8.5

-3.5

12.25

5.5

-2.5

6.25

10

10

2.5

-0.5

0.25

1.5

-0.5

0.25

1.5

2.5

6.25

5.5

2.5

6.25

2.5

8.5

-6

36
72.5

Compute for :
1

6 d

n(n 2 1)

435
1
990

6(72.5)
1
10(102 1)

1 0.44

435
1
10(100 1)

0.56

There is a moderate positive

correlation between evaluations of
the personnel managers and the
workers.

 Correlation scale:
Value of

Interpretation

+/- .80 to +/- .99

High correlation

+/- .60 to +/- .79

Moderately high
correlation

+/- .40 to +/- .59

Moderate correlation

+/- .20 to +/- .39

Low correlation

+/- .01 to +/- .19

Negligible/No correlation

Example#2
Five college students have the
following rankings in Mathematics and
Science subject. Is there an association
between the rankings in Mathematics
and
Science
subject?
Student Ashl David Owe Stev Fran
Mathematic
s class
rank(X)
Science
class
rank(Y)

ey
1
5

n
3

en
4

k
5

Make a table:
Math
Rank(X)
1

Science
Rank(Y)
5

X-Y
(d)
-4

(X-Y) 2
(d2)
16

-1

9
30

 Compute for by substituting

the values in the formula:
1

6 d 2

n(n 2 1)

6(30)
1 2
5(5 1)
180
1
5(25 1)
180
1
120

0.5

Interpretation:
There is a moderate negative
correlation between the Math and
Science subject rankings of
students.
Students who rank high as compared
to other
students in their Math
subject generally have lower Science
subject ranks and those with low
Math rankings have higher Science
subject rankings than those with high

Seatwork:
1. Two judges rated each of the twelve Audio-Visual
Presentation, using a 10 point scale. The following
table shows the result:
AVP

Judge A

Judge B

10

10

10

10

11

12

Merits Spearmans Rank

Correlation

This method is simpler to

understand and easier to apply
compared to karl pearsons
correlation method.
This method is useful where we
can give the ranks and not the
actual data. (qualitative term)
This method is to use where the
initial data in the form of ranks.

Limitation Spearmans
Correlation
Cannot be used for finding
out correlation in a grouped
frequency distribution.
This method should be
applied where N exceeds 30.