SPEARMAN RANK-

ORDER CORRELATION
COEFFICIENT
• The Spearman rank-order correlation
coefficient (Spearman’s correlation, for short)
is a nonparametric measure of the strength and
direction of association that exists between
two variables measured on at least an ordinal
scale.
• It is denoted by the symbol rs (or the Greek
letter ρ, pronounced rho). The test is used for
either ordinal variables or for continuous data
that has failed the assumptions necessary for
conducting the Pearson's product-moment
correlation.
 ASSUMPTIONS
1. Your two variables should be measured on
an ordinal, interval or ratio scale.
2. There is a monotonic
relationship between the two variables. A
monotonic relationship exists when either
the variables increase in value together, or
as one variable value increases, the other
variable value decreases.
Formula | NO TIED RANKS

di = difference in paired ranks

and n = number of cases.
 Rank Rank
X Y d d2
X Y

Σ
 Example | No Tied Ranks
• The following table displays the
association between the IQ of each
adolescent in a sample with the
number of hours they listen to rock
music per month.
• Determine the strength of the
correlation between IQ and rock music
using the Spearman’s rank correlation.
IQ Rock
99 2
120 0
98 25
102 45
123 14
105 20
85 15
110 19
117 22
90 4
X Y Rank X Rank Y d d 2
99 2 4 2 2 4
120 0 9 1 8 64
98 25 3 9 6 36
102 45 5 10 5 25
123 14 10 4 6 36
105 20 6 7 1 1
85 15 1 5 4 16
110 19 7 6 1 1
117 22 8 8 0 0
90 4 2 3 1 1
Σ = 184
Formula | TIED RANKS

i = paired score
 Rank Rank (Xi - µ)
i Xi Yi Xi - µ Y i – µ (Xi – µ)2 (Yi – µ)2
X Y (Yi – µ)

µ µ Σ Σ Σ
 Example | Tied Ranks
PHYSICS (X) MATH (Y)
35 23
23 33
47 45
17 23
10 8
43 49
9 12
6 4
28 31
 Rank Rank (Xi - µ)
i Xi - µ Yi – µ (Xi – µ)2 (Yi – µ)2
X Y (Yi – µ)
1 3 5.5 -2 0.5 -1 4 0.25
2 5 3 0 -2 0 0 4
3 1 2 -4 -3 12 16 9
4 6 5.5 1 0.5 0.5 1 0.25
5 7 8 2 3 6 4 9
6 2 1 -3 -4 12 9 16
7 8 7 3 2 6 9 4
8 9 9 4 4 16 16 16
9 4 4 -1 -1 1 1 1
µ=5 µ=5 Σ=52.5 Σ=60 Σ=59.5
Test Procedure in SPSS