Solved – Two-tailed p-value for Pearson’s $r$

correlationhypothesis testingp-valuepythonstatistical significance

The SciPy implementation of Pearson's $r$ also gives a two-tailed $p$-value.

I understand that a $p$-value for a given correlation gives the probability of a correlation coefficient at least as big to be observed if the null hypothesis is true.

I find it hard to understand how this test can be two-tailed, however. What would be the meaning of a one-tailed $p$-value for non-correlation, then? Since $r$ is signed I think only a one-tailed p-value could satisfy the definition given above.

Best Answer

Ok, so this is actually quite easy:

  • A 2-tailed p-value gives the probability of a correlation at least as extreme as r to be observed if the true correlation is in fact zero.
  • A 1-tailed p-value gives the probability of a correlation at least as extreme as r to be observed if the true correlation is in fact zero, or of the opposite sign than r.