OCR S1 2006 June — Question 6

Exam BoardOCR
ModuleS1 (Statistics 1)
Year2006
SessionJune
TopicHypothesis test of Spearman’s rank correlation coefficien

6 The table shows the total distance travelled, in thousands of miles, and the amount of commission earned, in thousands of pounds, by each of seven sales agents in 2005.
Agent\(A\)\(B\)\(C\)\(D\)\(E\)\(F\)\(G\)
Distance travelled18151214162413
Commission earned18451924272223
  1. (a) Calculate Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, \(r _ { s }\), for these data.
    (b) Comment briefly on your value of \(r _ { s }\) with reference to this context.
    (c) After these data were collected, agent \(A\) found that he had made a mistake. He had actually travelled 19000 miles in 2005. State, with a reason, but without further calculation, whether the value of Spearman's rank correlation coefficient will increase, decrease or stay the same. The agents were asked to indicate their level of job satisfaction during 2005. A score of 0 represented no job satisfaction, and a score of 10 represented high job satisfaction. Their scores, \(y\), together with the data for distance travelled, \(x\), are illustrated in the scatter diagram below.
    \includegraphics[max width=\textwidth, alt={}, center]{b37239e4-5d63-47e4-844a-f01b79f8dd67-3_691_981_1231_587}
  2. For this scatter diagram, what can you say about the value of
    (a) Spearman's rank correlation coefficient,
    (b) the product moment correlation coefficient?