Question

What information does a correlation coefficient convey?

Answer 1

The correlation coefficient, denoted by , is a measure of the strength of the straight-line or linear relationship between two variables. The correlation coefficient takes on values ranging between +1 and -1.

When , there is no linear relationship.

  indicates a perfect positive linear relationship: as one variable increases in its values, the other variable also increases in its values via an exact linear rule.

indicates a perfect negative linear relationship: as one variable increases in its values, the other variable decreases in its values via an exact linear rule.