Frequently Asked Questions -FAQs

What is the difference between Pearson, Spearman, and Kendall correlations?

Pearson is used to find linear correlation while Spearman rho is used to determine rank order correlation not necessarily of equal measurement (monotonic).

How do I handle missing values when using the cor function?

Use the use parameter to denote the steps taken in handling of missing values (e. g. If they are fine with completely observed variables (i.e., “complete. obs”), then that’s great.

Can ‘cor’ be used with categorical data?

Yes, categorical variables can be used with ‘cor’ command, but to ensure it gives the correct results, proper coding and formatting of the data is required.

How do I interpret a correlation coefficient?

The coefficients near 1 or -1 show strong positive/negative correlation between sets, while coefficients near 0 show that the relationship between the sets is either weak or non-existent.

Can I compute partial correlations with ‘cor’?

No, cor does not directly support partial correlations obviously. The method used for the partial correlation calculations is from the ppcor package.

Co-relation is a basic, general statistical tool used to predict the degree of association and direction between two variables. In R, the most basic resource for computing correlations is the cor function, which is designed for statistical computation and graphical illustration in R Programming Language.