title: Common pitfalls in statistical analysis: The use of correlation techniques.
abstract: Correlation is a statistical technique which shows whether and how strongly two continuous variables are related. In this article, which is the eighth part in a series on 'Common pitfalls in Statistical Analysis', we look at the interpretation of the correlation coefficient and examine various situations in which the use of technique of correlation may be inappropriate.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Rakesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Aggarwal
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology, Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Priya
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ranganathan
keywords: Biostatistics; correlation; “data interpretation, statistical”