Getting Started with SPSS

Research question type: Association (linear relationship) between 2 variables

Variable type: Continuous (scale/interval/ratio)

Common Applications: Exploring whether there is a significant linear relationship between 2 variables as well as the direction of the relationship (increasing/ decreasing)

1. From the menu, choose Analyze > Correlate > Bivariate. The “Bivariate Correlations” dialog box will appear.
2. Move the variables to be correlated into the Variables list.

3. Ensure that the Pearson box in the Correlation Coefficients area is ticked.
4. Click OK.

The output should look something like this:

In this example, we test whether there is a correlation between household income and primary vehicle price. Based on the results in the Correlations table, we can conclude that there is a significant positive correlation between household income and primary vehicle price (r=0.792, p<0.001).