The correlation coefficient is an important concept. What is a correlation coefficient? Below is a definition of a correlation coefficient.
Correlation Coefficient Definition:
A correlation coefficient is a quantitative measure of the association between two variables.
Values:
A correlation coefficient can range from -1 to 1. A -1 would be a perfect negative correlation, and a 1 would be a perfect positive correlation. A 0 would reflect no association at all between two variables.
Negative Correlation and Positive Correlation:
A negative correlation reflects that higher numbers for one variable are associated with lower numbers for the other variable. A positive correlation reflects that higher numbers for one variable are associated with higher numbers for the other variable.
Statistical Significance:
It is important to keep in mind that we do not conclude that all correlation coefficients greater than 0 or less than 0 are real associations. We have to conduct a statistical analysis to find out how likely it would be that the finding is due to chance. Generally, a correlation coefficient is considered to be statistically significant, and thus reflecting a real association, if the chance probability is less than .05.