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Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficient

Edexcel A-level BiologyThe Nature of EcosystemsLesson 38 of 39

Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (rs) tests whether there is a significant correlation between two variables, for example light intensity and the percentage cover of a plant along a transect. It can be used with data that are not normally distributed. You need at least 5 pairs of data, ideally 10 or more.

rs = 1 − (6Σd2) ÷ (n(n2 − 1))

where d is the difference between the ranks of each pair and n is the number of pairs.

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