Pearson’s correlation coefficient, also called correlation coefficient, a measurement quantifying the strength of the association between two variables. Pearson’s correlation coefficient r takes on the values of −1 through +1. Values of −1 or +1 indicate a perfect linear relationship between the two variables, whereas a value of 0 indicates no linear relationship. (Negative values simply indicate the direction of the association, whereby as one variable increases, the other decreases.) Correlation coefficients that differ from 0 but are not −1 or +1 indicate a linear relationship, although not a perfect linear relationship. Building upon earlier work by British eugenicist Francis Galton and French physicist Auguste Bravais, British mathematician Karl Pearson published his work on the correlation coefficient in 1896.

The Pearson’s correlation coefficient formula isr = [n(Σxy) − ΣxΣy]/Square root of√[n(Σx2) − (Σx)2][n(Σy2) − (Σy)2] In this formula, x is the independent variable, y is the dependent variable, n is the sample size, and Σ represents a summation of all values.

In the equation for the correlation coefficient, there is no way to distinguish between the two variables as to which is the dependent and which is the independent variable. For example, in a data set consisting of a person’s age (the independent variable) and the percentage of people of that age with heart disease (the dependent variable), a Pearson’s correlation coefficient could be found to be 0.75, showing a moderate correlation. This could lead to the conclusion that age is a factor in determining whether a person is at risk for heart disease. However, if the variables are interchanged, whereby the dependent and independent variables are now reversed, the correlation coefficient will still be found to be 0.75, indicating again that there is a moderate correlation, with the nonsensical conclusion that being at risk for heart disease is a factor in determining a person’s age. Thus it is extremely important for a researcher using Pearson’s correlation coefficient to properly identify the independent and dependent variables so that the Pearson’s correlation coefficient can lead to meaningful conclusions.

Although Pearson’s correlation coefficient is a measure of the strength of an association (specifically the linear relationship), it is not a measure of the significance of the association. The significance of an association is a separate analysis of the sample correlation coefficient r using a t-test to measure the difference between the observed r and the expected r under the null hypothesis.

Correlation analysis cannot be interpreted as establishing cause-and-effect relationships. It can indicate only how or to what extent variables are associated with each other. The correlation coefficient measures only the degree of linear association between two variables. Any conclusions about a cause-and-effect relationship must be based on the analyst’s judgment.