Inferant Statistics

Correlation of the GPA and SAT Data

In this activity, you will be performing a correlation analysis on the GPA and SAT data collected by Dartmouth University on 1000 students around the country. The data consists of a High School GPA, College GPA, and SAT score for each student. As is commonly perceived, the SAT scores should be an indicator of GPA performance; similarly, a high school GPA should correlate with a comparable college GPA. A multiple sample correlation will reveal any possible relationship between any of the data sets. A scatter plot would be a useful additive to the correlation in visualizing the data. Using Excel (the TI-83 is excluded from this activity because of its inability to deal with such a large data set), perform a correlation on the data to determine any correlation between the variables.

This data exists in two files; one is in Excel Data format and one is in Text format.

What are the correlation coefficients between each of the groups? What does this value tell you about the relationship between them? Is the coefficient great enough that the correlation could be considered effective? What can explain the relationship between SAT scores and GPAs?

Original work on this document was done by Central Virginia Governor's School student Christian Neeley (Class of '98).