figure. Assuming that the r-squared value found is 0.80, that there are 30 data , and accepting a 90% confidence interval, the r-squared value in another random sample from the same population may range from 0.588 to 0.921. When r-squared is outside this range, the population is considered to be different. However, if a certain data set is analysed with two different regression models while the first model yields r-squared = 0.80 and the second r-squared is 0.49, one may conclude that the second model is insignificant as the value 0.49 is below the critical value 0.588. Discussion The Fisher transformation is an approximate variance-stabilizing transformation for r when X and Y follow a bivariate normal distribution. This means that the variance of z is approximately constant for all values of the population correlation coefficient ρ. Without the Fisher transformation, the variance of r grows smaller as |ρ| gets closer to 1. Since the Fisher transformation is approximately the identity function when |r| < 1/2, it is sometimes useful to remember that the variance of r is well approximated by 1/N as long as |ρ| is not too large and N is not too small. This is related to the fact that the asymptotic variance of r is 1 for bivariate normal data. The behavior of this transform has been extensively studied since Fisher introduced it in 1915. Fisher himself found the exact distribution of z for data from a bivariate normal distribution in 1921; Gayen in 1951 determined the exact distribution of z for data from a bivariate Type A Edgeworth distribution. Hotelling in 1953 calculated the Taylor series expressions for the moments of z and several related statistics and Hawkins in 1989 discovered the asymptotic distribution of z for data from a distribution with bounded fourth moments. An alternative to the Fisher transformation is to use the exact confidence distribution density for ρ given by where is the Gaussian hypergeometric function and . Other uses While the Fisher transformation is mainly associated with the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient for bivariate normal observations, it can also be applied to Spearman's rank correlation coefficient in more general cases. A similar result for the asymptotic distribution applies, but with a minor adjustment factor: see the latter article for details. See also Data transformation (statistics) Meta-analysis (this transformation is used in meta analysis for stabilizing the variance) Partial correlation References External links