The correlation coefficient is a statistical measure of the strength of the relationship between the relative movements of two variables. The values range between -1.0 and 1.0.
A correlation of -1.0 shows a perfect negative correlation, while a correlation of 1.0 shows a perfect positive correlation. A correlation of 0.0 shows no linear relationship between the movement of the two variables.
Correlation coefficients whose magnitude is between 0.9 and 1.0 indicate variables that can be considered very highly correlated. Correlation coefficients whose magnitude is between 0.7 and 0.9 indicate variables that can be considered highly correlated. Correlation coefficients whose magnitude is between 0.5 and 0.7 indicate variables that can be considered moderately correlated. Correlation coefficients whose magnitude is between 0.3 and 0.5 indicate variables that have a low correlation. Correlation coefficients whose magnitude is less than 0.3 have little if any (linear) correlation.
A correlation coefficient of -0.5 shows a negative correlation. From the paragraph above, a value of 0.5 shows a moderate correlation.
Therefore, the correlation coefficient of -0.5 shows a MODERATE NEGATIVE CORRELATION.
