RESEARCH METHODS HANDBOOK

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Contents	Introduction	Descriptive	Hypothesis	Tables	Appendix

Example: Pearson r

The following data were collected to estimate the correlation between years of formal education and income at age 35.

	Susan	Bill	Bob	Tracy	Joan
Education (years)	12	14	16	18	12
Income ($1000)	25	27	32	44	26

Verify Conditions

Data are paired interval observations.

There is a linear relationship between Education (X) and Income (Y)

Compute Pearson's r

	Education	Income
	(Years)	($1000)
Name	X	Y	XY	X²	Y²
Susan	12	25	300	144	625
Bill	14	27	378	196	729
Bob	16	32	512	256	1024
Tracy	18	44	792	324	1936
Joan	12	26	312	144	676
? =	72	154	2294	1064	4990
n =	5

Interpret There is a very high positive correlation between the variation of education and the variation of income. Individuals with higher levels of education earn more than those with comparably lower levels of education. Determine Coefficient of Determination

Eighty-seven percent of the variance displayed in the income variable can be associated with the variance displayed in the education variable.