11:CalculatingthePearsonCorrelationCoefficientwithExcel

Westartby
enteringthe
dataofthe
examsscoresof
the10firstyear
psychology
students(Bookp
283).Thefirst
columnshows
thescoreson
theStatsexam;
thesecond
thoseofthe
Social
Psychology
exam.

Althoughitistemptingtobuildthecompleteauxiliarytablewiththevariousequations(please,feelfreetodoso!),well
limitourselvestothebuiltinfunctiontocalculatePearsonproductmomentcorrelations.

MarcBrysbaert
www.palgrave.com/psychology/brysbaert
BasicStatisticsforPsychologists11:CalculatingthePearsonCorrelationCoefficientwithExcel
Palgrave,2011

ActivateCellE1
(orwhichever
cellinwhichyou
wanttohave
your
correlation).
Clickonfxto
openthe
functionpanelof
Excel:

Selectthe
functionCORREL
fromthe
Statistical
functions.Click
onOK.

MarcBrysbaert
www.palgrave.com/psychology/brysbaert
BasicStatisticsforPsychologists11:CalculatingthePearsonCorrelationCoefficientwithExcel
Palgrave,2011

EnterA1:A10in
thefirstentry
boxandB1:B10
inthesecond
(tip:youcan
easilydothisby
puttingyour
cursorinthe
entryboxand
thengoingwith
themouseover
thecellswhile
keepingtheleft
keypressed).
ThenclickOK.
Thisgivesyou
thecorrelation
valueof.4508
(checkwiththe
solutiononp.
284ofthebook)

Tocalculatetheinterceptandtheregressionweightoftheregressionline,wecanagainmakeuseoftheformulas
describedinthebookormakeuseofthebuiltinExcelfunctions.Wedemonstratethelatter(please,feelfreetomakeyour
ownfilewithalltherelevantinformation!).
Selectthe
function
INTERCEPTfrom
theStatistical
library.

MarcBrysbaert
www.palgrave.com/psychology/brysbaert
BasicStatisticsforPsychologists11:CalculatingthePearsonCorrelationCoefficientwithExcel
Palgrave,2011

EnterB1:B10in
theboxasking
forknown_ys
(thevaluesthat
havetobe
predicted)and
A1:A10inthe
boxaskingfor
known_xs(the
valuesthatare
usedas
predictors).
ThenclickonOK

Thisgivesyou
thevalueofthe
intercept:

MarcBrysbaert
www.palgrave.com/psychology/brysbaert
BasicStatisticsforPsychologists11:CalculatingthePearsonCorrelationCoefficientwithExcel
Palgrave,2011

Tofindthevalue
oftheslopeof
theregression
line,usethe
functionSLOPE

Thisgivesyou
therequired
value(cf.p284):

MarcBrysbaert
www.palgrave.com/psychology/brysbaert
BasicStatisticsforPsychologists11:CalculatingthePearsonCorrelationCoefficientwithExcel
Palgrave,2011

Inaddition,we
maywantto
haveascatter
plotofthedata.
Forthis,gowith
thecursortoCell
E7(orso)and
clickonInsert
andScatter:

Choosethe
scatterplot:

MarcBrysbaert
www.palgrave.com/psychology/brysbaert
BasicStatisticsforPsychologists11:CalculatingthePearsonCorrelationCoefficientwithExcel
Palgrave,2011

ClickonSelect
Data.

Activateall
numbersbothin
columnAandB
bygoingover
themwiththe
mouse(left
buttonpressed
in).StartinCell
A1andgotoCell
B10.Thenclick
onOK:

MarcBrysbaert
www.palgrave.com/psychology/brysbaert
BasicStatisticsforPsychologists11:CalculatingthePearsonCorrelationCoefficientwithExcel
Palgrave,2011

Thisgivesyou
thedesiredplot,
eventhoughthe
valuesonthe
axismaynotbe
optimal:

Tochangethis
activatetheaxis
youwantto
changebyleft
clickingonit.
Thenclickonthe
rightmouse
buttontosee
thefollowing
panel:

MarcBrysbaert
www.palgrave.com/psychology/brysbaert
BasicStatisticsforPsychologists11:CalculatingthePearsonCorrelationCoefficientwithExcel
Palgrave,2011

SelectFormat
Axisandadjust
theminimum
andmaximum
valuetodesired
values:

Thendothe
samefortheY
axis:

MarcBrysbaert
www.palgrave.com/psychology/brysbaert
BasicStatisticsforPsychologists11:CalculatingthePearsonCorrelationCoefficientwithExcel
Palgrave,2011

Whichwillgive
youthe
following
picture,inwhich
youcanthen
addaxislabels,
titles,etc

Youcanalsotry
outdifferent
ChartLayouts.
Toaddthe
regressionline,
activatethedots
ofthescatter
plotbyclicking
ononeofthem.
Thenclickonthe
rightmouse
buttontoget
thefollowing
panel,from
whichyouselect
AddTrendline.

MarcBrysbaert
www.palgrave.com/psychology/brysbaert
BasicStatisticsforPsychologists11:CalculatingthePearsonCorrelationCoefficientwithExcel
Palgrave,2011

10

Withabitof
editingyoumay
getsomethingas
follows:

MarcBrysbaert
www.palgrave.com/psychology/brysbaert
BasicStatisticsforPsychologists11:CalculatingthePearsonCorrelationCoefficientwithExcel
Palgrave,2011

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