An environmental psychologist conducted a study to investigate the relationship between the average daily temperature of an office and the subjective productivity level of its workers.
The psychologist monitored 12 offices over a two-week period during summer. For each office, they recorded the average daily temperature in ∘C^\circ\text{C}∘C. At the end of the two weeks, the office manager of each office completed a questionnaire rating the overall productivity of their team on a Likert scale from 1 (extremely unproductive) to 5 (extremely productive).
The psychologist hypothesised that there would be a negative correlation between temperature and perceived productivity.
Explain why Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (rsr_srs) is an appropriate statistical test to analyse the data from this study, rather than the product-moment correlation coefficient (rrr). Refer to the description of the study in your answer.
121 exam-style questions on AQA A Level Psychology Inferential testing (A-level only). Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.