Pearson’s Correlation

The variables that I used for this correlation test were income and family involvement. Income was measured based on the average amount of money a family makes in a year. Family involvement was measured on a scale of 0-10. They are both interval/ratio variables which is need for running a correlation test. The results of this test show that there is a weak positive correlation (r =.19) between the variables. The strength of the results shows that between the two variables there is very little correlation.

How to Find Correlation in SPSS: 

Step 1: Open SPSS 

Step 2: Click Analyze 

Step 3: Go to Correlate 

Step 4: Click Bivariate 

Step 5: Move Dependent and Independent Variable into the variables box

  • For this example, I am using v17 as my dependent variable and v36 as my independent variable 
  • Correlation only works with interval/ratio variables

Step 6: Click OK 

Interpretation: There is a weak positive correlation (r = .19) between income and family involvement. 

How to Find Correlation in Rstudio: 

Step 1: Input the following syntax using your Dependent and Independent variables

z<-y[is.na(y$v17)==0 & is.na(y$v36)==0,]

cor(z$v36,z$v17)

Step 2: Click Run 

Interpretation: There is a weak positive correlation (r =.19) between income and family involvement.