Ninth Edition CoverGraziano & Raulin
Research Methods (9th edition)

Spearman Rank-Order Correlation

The Spearman rank-order correlation is used when both variables are at least ordinal scales of measurement, but one is not sure that both would qualify as interval or ratio scales of measurement. 

Computing the Spearman rank-order correlation is exactly like computing the Pearson product-moment correlation. You select the Analyze menu, the Correlate submenu, and the Bivariate option. This will give you this screen. You move the two variables you want to correlate just as with a product-moment correlation. The only difference is that you select the Spearman option instead of the default Pearson option that is shown in this example.

Animations

We have prepared an animation that will walk you through this procedure. To run the animation, simply click on the title of the animation in the table below. 

Note that we do not recommend that you try to run the animations if you have a slow connection, such as a dial-up connection. You will find that the animations take forever to load with a slow connection.

Computing a Spearman Rank-Order Correlation