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Glite Dictionary
phi coefficient

phi coefficient

9.9
A number showing how strongly two yes or no things are linked and its direction
  • noun
  • /faɪ koʊˈɛfɪʃənt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : coeficiente phi
  • The phi coefficient represents the magnitude of the relationship between two nominal variables. The value can be interpreted similarly to a Pearson correlation coefficient.

Examples

  • The calculated phi coefficient indicates the strength of association between the presence of symptoms and the test results.

  • However, the phi coefficient indicates that the strength of association between the wait time and target student variables is low.

    Academic text (1997)

  • The phi coefficient of .651 is also significant at the p < .001 level.

    Academic text (2001)

  • I tested the hypothesis using chi-square tests of significance and the phi coefficient from a crosstabulation analysis.

    Academic text (2001)

  • The phi coefficient, which is a measure of the strength of association, is also significant at the p < .001 level with a value of .433; thus, hypothesis 1 is supported - there is a positive association between the conducting of BIA and DRP testing.

    Academic text (2001)

  • A phi coefficient (referred to as a contingency coefficient in the SPSS, 16.0 version) was also used to measure the effect size for a chi-square test for independence.

    Academic text (2011)

  • The phi coefficient shows that there is a strong positive relationship between the two binary variables in the dataset.

  • Using the phi coefficient, researchers can quantify how closely related the two conditions are in their analysis.

Synonyms

phi correlation
vsphi coefficient
  • Specialized
9.8

A number that shows how strongly two yes or no variables are related

is the same measure but named differently
fourfold point correlation
vsphi coefficient
  • Specialized
9.9

A number that shows how two things with two choices are related, for example male and female

is the general binary association measure focusing on strength and direction

How Related

phi coefficient
  • Specialized
9.9
correlation
93 4.6
spurious correlation
  • Specialized
1 8.7
nonassociation
  • Specialized
8.8

Surface Forms

phi coefficient singular
phi coefficients plural

Morphology

phi + coefficient

Although 'coefficient' signals a numerical constant, 'phi' here names a specific Greek-letter statistic; a B1 learner who knows 'phi' only as a letter and 'coefficient' as a math term would not be able to infer that this is a measure of association for two binary variables. The meaning is technical and domain-specific rather than transparently compositional from everyday senses of the parts, so it is not predictable without prior exposure.

Etymology

Phi coefficient is named after the Greek letter phi and the word coefficient, which means a number that measures something. Think of it as the number called 'phi' that shows how strong the 'yes/no' link is between two things and whether they tend to happen together or not.