Merits and Limitations of the Pearsonian Coefficient

Among the mathematical methods used for measuring the degree of relationship, Karl Pearson’s method is most popular. The correlation coefficient summarizes in one figure not only the degree of correlation but also the direction, i.e., whether correlation is positive or negative. However, the utility of this coefficient depends in part on a wide knowledge of the meaning of this ‘yardstick’, together with its limitations. The chief limitations of method are:

1. The correlation coefficient always assumes linear relationship regardless of the fact whether that assumption is correct or not.

2. Great care must be exercised in interpreting the values of this coefficient as very often the coefficient is misinterpreted.

3. The value of the coefficient is unduly affected by the extreme items.

4. As compared with other methods this method takes more time to compute the value of correlation coefficient.

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