Merits and Limitations of the Rank Method

Merits.

1. This method is simpler to understand and easier to apply compared to the Karl Pearson’s method. The answer obtained by this method and the Karl Pearson’s method will be the same provided no values is repeated, i.e., all the items are different.

2. Where the data are of a qualitative nature like honesty, efficiency, intelligence, etc., this method can be used with great advantage. For example, the workers of two factories can be ranked in order of efficiency and the degree of correlation established by applying this method.

3. This is only method that can be used where we are given the ranks and not the actual data.
4. Even where actual data are given rank method can be applied for ascertaining correlation.

Limitations

1. This method cannot be used for finding out correlation in a grouped frequency distribution.

2. Where the number of items exceeds 30 the calculations become quite tedious and require a lot of time. Therefore, this method should not be applied where N exceeds 30 unless we are given the ranks and not the actual values of the variable.

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