Spearman's rank-order coefficient

Spearman's rank-order coefficient

(ˈspɪəmənz) n (Statistics) a statistic measuring the extent to which two sets of discrete data place the distinct items in the same order, given by rS = 16Σd2/n(n21), where Σd2 is the sum of the squares of the differences of ranks between the two orderings and n is the number of items in each. Also called: Spearman's rank-order correlation coefficient [named after Charles E. Spearman (1863–1945), English mathematician and statistician]