Spearman rank correlation coefficient

Spearman rank correlation coefficient

a NONPARAMETRIC STATISTICS test used for ordinal data (see CRITERIA AND LEVELS OF MEASUREMENT) when a CORRELATION between two VARIABLES is to be measured.

This test uses a ranking procedure to assess the degree of correlation. For example, if it is hypothesized that suicide rates in different countries vary with levels of church attendance, the suicide rates are put in rank order in one column, and the levels of church attendance are separately ranked in another. The correlation coefficient is calculated by a formula which uses the differences between the rankings.