7.

Bivariate Data
7.1 Introduction
Sometimes, in practical applications, we might come across certain set of data, where each item
of the set may comprise of the values of two or more variables. A Bivariate Data is a a set of
paired measurements which are of the form (x1 , y1 ) , (x 2 , y 2 ), ....., (x n , y n )
Examples
i. Marks obtained in two subjects by 60 students in a class.
ii. The series of sales revenue and advertising expenditure of the various branches of a
company in a particular year.
iii. The series of ages of husbands and wives in a sample of selected married couples.
Our interest is to find a relationship (if it exists) between the two variables under study.

7.2 Scatter Diagrams and Correlation

A scatter diagram is a tool for analysing relationships between two variables. One variable is
plotted on the horizontal axis and the other is plotted on the vertical axis. The pattern of their
intersecting points can graphically show relationship patterns. Most often a scatter diagram is
used to prove or disprove cause-and-effect relationships. While the diagram shows
relationships, it does not by itself prove that one variable causes the other. In brief, the easiest
way to visualize Bivariate Data is through a Scatter Plot. “Two variables are said to be
correlated if the change in one of the variables results in a change in the other variable”.

7.2.1: Positive and Negative Correlation

If the values of the two variables deviate in the same direction i.e. if an increase (or decrease)
in the values of one variable results, on an average, in a corresponding increase (or decrease)
in the values of the other variable the correlation is said to be positive.
Some examples of series of positive correlation are:
i. Heights and weights; iii) Price and supply of commodities;
ii. Household income and expenditure; iv) Amount of rainfall and yield of crops.
Correlation between two variables is said to be negative or inverse if the variables deviate
in opposite direction. That is, if increase (or decrease) in the values of one variable results in
corresponding decrease (or increase) in the values of the other variable. E.g. Price and demand
of goods.

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7.2.2 Interpreting a Scatter Plot
Scatter diagrams will generally show one of six possible correlations between the
variables:
i. Strong Positive Correlation The value of Y clearly increases as the value of X increases.
ii. Strong Negative Correlation The value of Y clearly decreases as the value of X
increases.
iii. Weak Positive Correlation The value of Y increases slightly as the value of X increases.
iv. Weak Negative Correlation The value of Y decreases slightly as the value of X
increases.
v. Complex Correlation The value of Y seems to be related to the value of X, but the
relationship is not easily determined.
vi. No Correlation There is no demonstrated connection between the two variables

7.3 Correlation Coefficient

It’s a measure of the strength of linear association between 2 paired variables It takes values
from - 1 to +1. Values close to zero  weak relationship while values close to1  strong
relationship. If r = 0 there is no relationship (  the variables are uncorrelated) and if r r = 1
,we have perfect relationship.

7.3.1 Pearson's Product Moment Correlation Coefficient

Pearson's product moment correlation coefficient, usually denoted by r, is one example of a
correlation coefficient. It is a measure of the linear association between two variables that have
been measured on interval or ratio scales, such as the relationship between height and weight.
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However, it can be misleadingly small when there is a relationship between the variables but it
is a non-linear one. The correlation coefficient r is given by

r=
 ( x − x )( y − y ) It can be shown that r =
n xy −  x y

 ( x − x)  ( y − y )
2 2
[n x 2 − ( x)2 ][n y 2 − ( y ) 2 ]
Example 1: Obtain the correlation coefficient of the following data
Mean Temp. (x) 14.2 14.3 14.6 14.9 15.2 15.6 15.9
Pirates (y) 35000 45000 20000 15000 5000 400 17
Solution

- 62583
We then have that r =  −0 : 93
2.5(1828695447 )

Example 2: A study was conducted to find whether there is any relationship between the weight
and blood pressure of an individual. The following set of data was arrived at from a clinical
study. Let us determine the coefficient of correlation for this set of data. The first column
represents the serial number and the second and third columns represent the weight and blood
pressure of each patient.
Weight 78 86 72 82 80 86 84 89 68 71
Blood 140 160 134 144 180 176 174 178 128 132
Pressure

Solution Totals
X 78 86 72 82 80 86 84 89 68 71 796
Y 140 160 134 144 180 176 174 178 128 132 1546
1092 1376 9648 1180 1440 1513 1461 1584 8704 9372 12420
xy
0 0 8 0 6 6 2 6
x2 6084 7396 5184 6724 6400 7396 7056 7921 4624 5041 63826
1960 2560 1795 2073 3240 3097 3027 3168
1638 1742 24303
y2
0 0 6 6 0 6 6 4 4 4 6
10(124206) - (796) (1546) 11444
Thus r = = = 0.5966
2 2
[ (10)63776 - (796) (10) ][(243036) - (1546) ] (1144) (40244)

7.3.2 Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient

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Data which are arranged in ascending order are said to be in ranks or ranked data. The
coefficient of correlation for such type of data is given by Spearman rank difference
correlation coefficient and is denoted by R.
6 d
2

R is given by the formula R = 1 −

n(n 2 − 1)

Example The data given below are obtained from student records. (Grade Point Average (x)
and Graduate Record exam score (y)) Calculate the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient.
Subject 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
X 8.3 8.6 9.2 9.8 8.0 7.8 9.4 9.0 7.2 8.6
y 2300 2250 2380 2400 2000 2100 2360 2350 2000 2260
Solution
Note that in the x row, we have two students having a grade point average of 8.6 also in the y
row; there is a tie for 2000.
Now we arrange the data in descending order and then rank 1,2,3, . . .. .10 accordingly. In case
of a tie, the rank of each tied value is the mean of all positions they occupy. In x, for instance,
8.6 occupy ranks 5 and 6. So each has a rank 5 + 6 = 5.5
2
Similarly, in ‘y’ 2000 occupies ranks 9 and 10, so each has rank 9.5
6 d
2

Now we come back to our formula R = 1 −

n(n2 − 1)
We compute d, square it and substitute its value in the formula
X 8.3 8.6 9.2 9.8 8.0 7.8 9.4 9.0 7.2 8.6
y 2300 2250 2380 2400 2000 2100 2360 2350 2000 2260
Rank(X) 7 5.5 3 1 8 9 2 4 10 5.5
Rank(Y) 5 7 2 1 9.5 8 3 4 9.5 6
d 2 -1.5 1 0 -1.5 1 -1 0 0.5 -0.5
2
d 4 2.25 1 0 2.25 1 1 0 0.25 0.25
6(12)
So here, n = 10 and  d = 12 . So R = 1 − = 1 − 0.0727 = 0.9273
2

10(100 − 1)
Note: If we are provided with only ranks without giving the values of x and y we can still find
Spearman rank difference correlation R by taking the difference of the ranks and proceeding in
the above shown manner.

7.4 Regression
If two variables are significantly correlated, and if there is some theoretical basis for doing so,
it is possible to predict values of one variable from the other.
Regression analysis, in general sense, means the estimation or prediction of the unknown value
of one variable from the known value of the other variable. It is one of the most important
statistical tools which is extensively used in almost all sciences – Natural, Social and Physical.
Regression analysis was explained by M. M. Blair as follows:

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“Regression analysis is a mathematical measure of the average relationship between two or
more variables in terms of the original units of the data.”

7.4.1 Regression Equation

Regression analysis can be thought of as being sort of like the flip side of correlation. It has to
do with finding the equation for the kind of straight lines you were just looking at Suppose we
have a sample of size n and it has two sets of measures, denoted by x and y. We can predict the
values of y given the values of x by using the equation, y* = a + bx
Where the coefficients ‘a’ and ‘b’ are real numbers given by
n xy −  x  y  y − b x
b= and a=
n x − ( x )
2 2
n

The symbol y * refers to the predicted value of y from a given value of x from the regression
equation.

Example: Scores made by students in a statistics class in the mid-term and final examination
are given here. Develop a regression equation which may be used to predict final examination
scores from the mid – term score.
Student 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Mid term 98 66 100 96 88 45 76 60 74 82
Final 90 74 98 88 80 62 78 74 86 80
Solution:
We want to predict the final exam scores from the mid-term scores. So let us designate ‘y’ for
the final exam scores and ‘x’ for the mid-term exam scores.
We obtain the following table for the calculations.
Studen Total
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
t s
X 98 66 100 96 88 45 76 60 74 82 785
Y 90 74 98 88 80 62 78 74 86 80 810
960 435 1000 921 774 202 577 360 547 672
X2 64521
4 6 0 6 4 5 6 0 6 4
882 488 844 704 279 592 444 636 656
XY 9800 65074
0 4 8 0 0 8 0 4 0
10 (65,074) - 785 (810) 14,860
b= = = 0.5127 and a = 810 – 785( 0.5127) = 40.7531
10( 64, 521) - (785) 2 28,985 10

Thus, the regression equation is given by y* = 40.7531 + (0.5127) x We can use this to find
the projected or estimated final scores of the students. E.g. for the midterm score of 50 the
projected final score is y* = 40.7531 + (0.5127) 50 = 66.3881 , which is a good estimation.
To give another example, consider the midterm score of 70. Then the projected final score is
y* = 40.7531 + (0.5127) 70 = 76.6421 , which is again a very good estimation.
Exercise
1. Consider the following data and draw a scatter plot
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 X 1.0 1.9 2.0 2.9 3.0 3.1 4.0 4.1 5
Y 10 99 100 999 1,000 1,001 10,000 10,001 100,000
2. . Let variable X is the number of hamburgers consumed at a cook-out, and variable Y is the
number of beers consumed. Develop a regression equation to predict how many beers a
person will consume given that we know how many hamburgers that person will consume.
Hamburgers 5 4 3 2 1
Beers 8 10 4 6 2
3. A horse owner is investigating the relationship between weight carried and the finish
position of several horses in his stable. Calculate r and R for the data given
Weight 110 113 120 115 110 115 117 123 106 108 110 110
carried
Position 2 6 3 4 6 5 4 2 1 4 1 3
Finished

4. The top and bottom number which may Top 1 2 3 4 5 6

appear on a die are as follows Calculate r Bottom 5 6 4 3 1 2
and R for these values. Are the results
surprising?
5. The ranks of two sets of variables (Heights and Weights) are given below. Calculate the
Spearman rank difference correlation coefficient R.
Heights 2 6 8 4 7 4 9.5 4 1 9.5
Weights 9 1 9 4 5 9 2 7 6 3
6. Researchers interested in determining if there is a relationship between death anxiety and
religiosity conducted the following study. Subjects completed a death anxiety scale (high
score = high anxiety) and also completed a checklist designed to measure an individual’s
degree of religiosity (belief in a particular religion, regular attendance at religious services,
number of times per week they regularly pray, etc.) (high score = greater religiosity. A data
sample is provided below:
X 38 42 29 31 28 15 24 17 19 11 8 19 3 14 6
y 4 3 11 5 9 6 14 9 10 15 19 17 10 14 18
a) What is your computed answer?
b) What does this statistic mean concerning the relationship between death anxiety and
religiosity?
c) What percent of the variability is accounted for by the relation of these two variables?
7. The data given below are obtained from student records.( Grade Point Average (x) and
Graduate Record exam score (y)) Calculate the regression equation and compute the
estimated GRE scores for GPA = 7.5 and 8.5..
X 8.3 8.6 9.2 9.8 8.0 7.8 9.4 9.0 7.2 8.6
y 2300 2250 2380 2400 2000 2100 2360 2350 2000 2260
8. A horse was subject to the test of how many minutes it takes to reach a point from the starting
point. The horse was made to carry luggage of various weights on 10 trials.. The data
collected are presented below in the table. Find the regression equation between the load

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 and the time taken to reach the goal. Estimate the time taken for the loads of 35 Kgs, 23
Kgs, and 9 Kgs. Are the answers in agreement with your intuitive feelings? Justify.
Trial Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 8 9 10
Weight (in Kgs) 11 23 16 32 12 28 29 19 25 20
Time taken (in 13 22 16 47 13 39 43 21 32 22
mins)
9. A study was conducted to find whether there is any relationship between the weight and
blood pressure of an individual. The following set of data was arrived at from a clinical
study.
Weight 78 86 72 822 80 86 84 89 68 71
Blood Pressure 140 160 134 144 180 176 174 178 128 132
10. It is assumed that achievement test scores should be correlated with student's classroom
performance. One would expect that students who consistently perform well in the
classroom (tests, quizes, etc.) would also perform well on a standardized achievement test
(0 - 100 with 100 indicating high achievement (x)). A teacher decides to examine this
hypothesis. At the end of the academic year, she computes a correlation between the
students’ achievement test scores (she purposefully did not look at this data until after she
submitted students’ grades) and the overall g.p.a.(y) for each student computed over the
entire year. The data for her class are provided below.
X 98 96 94 88 01 77 86 71 59 63 84 79 75 72 86 85 71 93 90 62
y 3.6 2.7 3.1 4.0 3.2 3. 3.8 2.6 3.0 2.2 1.7 3.1 2.6 2.9 2.4 3.4 2.8 3.7 3.2 1.6
0
a) Compute the correlation coefficient.
b) What does this statistic mean concerning the relationship between achievement test
performance and g.p.a.?
c) What percent of the variability is accounted for by the relationship between the two
variables and what does this statistic mean?
d) What would be the slope and y-intercept for a regression line based on this data?
e) If a student scored a 93 on the achievement test, what would be their predicted G.P.A.?
If they scored a 74? A 88?
11. With the growth of internet service providers, a researcher decides to examine whether there
is a correlation between cost of internet service per month (rounded to the nearest dollar)
and degree of customer satisfaction (on a scale of 1 - 10 with a 1 being not at all satisfied
and a 10 being extremely satisfied). The researcher only includes programs with
comparable types of services. A sample of the data is provided below.
Cost of internet (in 11 18 17 15 9 5 12 19 22 25
$)
satisfaction 6 8 10 4 9 6 3 5 2 10
a) Compute the correlation coefficient.
b) What does this statistic mean concerning the relationship between amount of money
spent per month on internet provider service and level of customer satisfaction?
c) What percent of the variability is accounted for by the relationship between the two
variables and what does this statistic mean?

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12. It is hypothesized that there are fluctuations in norepinephrine (NE) levels which
accompany fluctuations in affect with bipolar affective disorder (manic-depressive illness).
Thus, during depressive states, NE levels drop; during manic states, NE levels increase. To
test this relationship, researchers measured the level of NE by measuring the metabolite 3-
methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG in micro gram per 24 hour) in the patient's urine
experiencing varying levels of mania/depression. Increased levels of MHPG are correlated
with increased metabolism (thus higher levels) of central nervous system NE. Levels of
mania/depression were also recorded on a scale with a low score indicating increased mania
and a high score increased depression. The data is provided below.

MHPG 980 1209 1403 1950 1814 1280 1073 1066 880 776
Affect 22 26 8 10 5 19 26 12 23 28
a) Compute the correlation coefficient.
b) What does this statistic mean concerning the relationship between MHPG levels and
affect?
c) What percent of the variability is accounted for by the relationship between the two
variables?
d) What would be the slope and y-intercept for a regression line based on this data?
e) What is the predicted affect score for an individual with MHPG level of; 1100, 950,
700?
13. The table below contains 25 cases -- the mother’s weight (X) in kilograms and the infant's
birth weight (Y) in grams. Does this data suggest some relationship between the mother's
weight and the infant's birth weight Why would such a relationship be important
# 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
X 49.4 63.5 68.0 52.2 54.4 70.3 50.8 73.9 65.8 54.4 73.5 59.0
Y 3515 3742 2680 2680 3006 4068 3373 4124 3572 3359 3230 3572
The table continues below
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
61.2 52.2 63.1 65.8 61.2 55.8 61.2 56.7 63.5 59.0 49.9 65.8 43.1
272 334 371 299 402 292 415 297 276 292 269
3062 3374
2 5 4 1 6 0 2 7 4 0 3

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