PCA Tutorial: Correlation Coefficients

The principal components will appear under the folder name specified in the Data View.  A scatterplot of the first two components will also appear, as well as various tables in the Log.  The first table displays the correlation coefficients.

We can use this table to interpret correlations between the variables.  There is a strong negative correlation between %White and %Black, meaning as the white population increases, the black population decreases.  There’s a weak positive correlation between %White and %Asian, and no correlation between %White and %Hispanic.  There is a weak negative correlation between %Asian and %Black, and no correlation between %Asian and %Hispanic.  Finally, there is a weak negative correlation between %Black and %Hispanic.