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Context

When I teach students about the correlation coefficient, I like to give students a sense of how correlations map on to common associations that might be encountered in daily life and across various topics and disciplines.

Some years back I read a psychology journal article (it might have been American Psychologist) that presented a table of meta analytic correlations across a wide range of topics and disciplines (e.g., 40 or 50 correlations from medical, psychological, economic, and other domains). The table aimed to highlight what are typical correlations in a given domain in order to provide context for the interpretation of a correlation coefficient. However, I can't remember the reference for the particular journal article.

Question

  • Does anyone know where a general listing of the magnitude of typical correlations across a wide range of disciplines and topics could be obtained?
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I remember Cohen doing something like this (though focusing more on R2) in his book Statistical Power Analysis for the Social and Behavioural Sciences, so I would suspect that he may have written the article you are referring to. – richiemorrisroe Jul 17 '11 at 9:02
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I think you are remembering this article: Meyer et al. (2001). Psychological testing and psychological assessment: A review of evidence and issues. American Psychologist, 56(2), 128-165 (PubMed link). Something similar for standardized mean differences can be found here: Lipsey, M. W., & Wilson, D. B. (1993). The efficacy of psychological, educational, and behavioral treatment. American Psychologist, 48(12), 1181-1209 (PubMed link). – Wolfgang Jul 17 '11 at 10:23
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@Wolfgang excellent. Thanks so much. The Meyer article is exactly what I was thinking of. Would you be able to put your comment as an answer so that I can close off on the question? – Jeromy Anglim Jul 17 '11 at 10:39
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@Jeromy Gladly. – Wolfgang Jul 17 '11 at 11:22

1 Answer

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I think you are remembering this article: Meyer et al. (2001). Psychological testing and psychological assessment: A review of evidence and issues. American Psychologist, 56(2), 128-165 (PubMed link).

Something similar for standardized mean differences can be found here: Lipsey, M. W., & Wilson, D. B. (1993). The efficacy of psychological, educational, and behavioral treatment. American Psychologist, 48(12), 1181-1209 (PubMed link).

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