I wish this was clearer because there are all kinds of variations in the reporting of correlations in the literature. It seems that most often they are reported in tables because you seldom see a research project with a single or even a few correlations. Usually there are a number of correlations reported. When there is just one, I sometimes see the N reported instead of the df. If you are going to just report N instead of the df, I believe it should be something like r(N=25)=.75, p=.02. However, since the calculation of the p requires the use of df, I believe it should be r(23)=.75, p=.02. None of the examples in the 6th edition involve Pearson r but the relevant passage says on p. 34, "For inferential statistical tests (e.g., t, F, and chi square tests), include the obtained value or magnitude of the test statistic, the degrees of freedom, the probability of obtaining a value as extreme or more extreme than the one obtained (the exact p value), and the size and direction of the effect." This always leaves me in doubt because the t-distribution is actually used to determine the p-value for the Pearson r correlation so it seems as if the t result might go in there somewhere but I have seldom seen that done. The manual also goes on to suggest reporting effect sizes and confidence intervals. However, the basic format for reporting inferential results doesn't seem to have changed from the 5th edition.
Rick Dr. Rick Froman, Chair Division of Humanities and Social Sciences John Brown University Siloam Springs, AR 72761 rfro...@jbu.edu ________________________________________ From: Paul C Bernhardt [pcbernha...@frostburg.edu] Sent: Tuesday, July 21, 2009 3:03 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] Reporting Correlations in APA Style What is the proper way to report a single correlation within the text of a paper? Do you report degrees of freedom or N? There is little consistency in what I find searching on the internet for university APA help sites. I wasn't able to find the answer at APAStyle.org. Particularly considering there is a new 6th edition, maybe those of you who have obtained it can comment if it has better information. I've looked through the 5th edition and come up empty. The example paper in the 5th edition that has a correlation for a study with a sample of 60 showed r(59) = .87, p < .01. Curious. Either there was a lost participant, not mentioned because of how they laid out the paper in the book, or they thought the degrees of freedom for a correlation was N-1, which is incorrect (it is N-2). Paul C. Bernhardt Department of Psychology Frostburg State University Frostburg, Maryland --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
