Correlations Correlation is a measure of relation between two variables. For example, a high correlation between purchases of certain products such as cheese and crackers indicates that these products are likely to be purchased together. Correlations may be either positive or negative. A positive correlation indicates that a high level of one variable will be accompanied by a high value of the correlated variable. A negative correlation indicates that a high level of one variable will be accompanied by a low value of the correlated variable.
Positive correlations are useful for finding products which tend to be purchased together.
Negative correlations can be useful for diversifying across markets in a company's strategic portfolio. For example, an energy company might have interest in both natural gas and fuel oil since price changes and the degree of substitutability might have an impact on demand for one resource over the other. Correlation analysis can help a company develop a portfolio of markets in order to absorb such environmental changes in individual markets. SPSS offers correlations in SPSS Base . SPSS Inc. All rights reserved.