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On the mean and variance of the tetrachoric correlation coefficient

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Abstract

Estimates of the mean and standard deviation of the tetrachoric correlation are compared with their expected values in several 2 × 2 tables. Significant bias in the mean is found when the minimum cell frequency is less than 5. Three formulas for the standard deviation are compared and guidelines given for their use.

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This research was performed when the first author was on leave at the University of California at Los Angeles and was supported in part by NIH Special Research Resources Grant RR-3. The second author was also supported by NIH Fellowship 5 F22 GM00328-02.

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Brown, M.B., Benedetti, J.K. On the mean and variance of the tetrachoric correlation coefficient. Psychometrika 42, 347–355 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02293655

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02293655

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