Pearson product moment correlation coefficient
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus.
Pearson product moment correlation coefficient (r)
a CORRELATION coefficient for use with continuous variables (interval or ratio scales) with a NORMAL DISTRIBUTION. A theoretical justification for the measure is that r2 is the proportion of the variance in one of the variables that may be predicted from the other.Collins Dictionary of Sociology, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2000