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Sample Size Requirements for Estimating Pearson, Kendall and Spearman Correlations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2025

Douglas G. Bonett  and
Thomas A. Wright
Douglas G. Bonett*
Affiliation:
Iowa State University
Thomas A. Wright
Affiliation:
University of Nevada, Reno
*
Requests for reprints should be sent to Douglas G. Bonett, Department of Statistics, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011.
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Abstract

Interval estimates of the Pearson, Kendall tau-a and Spearman correlations are reviewed and an improved standard error for the Spearman correlation is proposed. The sample size required to yield a confidence interval having the desired width is examined. A two-stage approximation to the sample size requirement is shown to give accurate results.

Keywords

sample sizeinterval estimationcorrelationrank correlation

Information

Type
Original Paper
Information
Psychometrika , Volume 65 , Issue 1 , March 2000 , pp. 23 - 28
Copyright
Copyright © 2000 The Psychometric Society

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