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Partial Correlation in SPSS: Controlling for Third Variables

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IBM SPSS Academy 27 File Edit View Data Transform Analyze Graphs Utilities Correlate ▶ ▶ Partial Menü Yolu: Analyze → Correlate → Partial Yukarıdaki menü yolunu takip ederek analiz penceresini açın

📸 SPSS partial correlation menu path

What Is Partial Correlation?

Partial correlation measures the linear relationship between two variables while statistically controlling for the effect of one or more additional variables. When a third variable (confounder) influences both X and Y, the zero-order Pearson r may be misleading — partial correlation removes that shared influence.

Example: The correlation between stress and health outcomes might be inflated because both are influenced by age. Partialling out age gives the true stress-health relationship.

Running Partial Correlation in SPSS

Step 1: Analyze → Correlate → Partial.
Step 2: Move the two variables of interest to Variables. Move the control variable to Controlling for → OK.
SPSS Academy Output Viewer Partial Correlations Control Variable Variable r df Sig. Stress—Sleep Age (controlled) Correlation -.412 96 .000* Zero-order r (no control) -.531 97 .000* * p < .05 anlamlı sonuç gösterir

📸 Partial correlation output — r changes after controlling for age

APA Reporting

After controlling for age, the partial correlation between stress and sleep quality remained significant, r(96)=-.412, p<.001, though smaller than the zero-order correlation (r=-.531), indicating that age partially accounts for this relationship.

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