Indicator Correlations
Spearman rank correlations between 22 indicators for 2023. Click any cell to see the scatter plot.
Correlation Methodology
What This Visualization Shows
The Indicator Correlation Matrix shows how civic engagement indicators relate to each other across all U.S. states. Each cell displays the Spearman rank correlation coefficient between two indicators.
This helps identify which civic activities tend to "travel together" — when one is high in a state, is the other typically high or low as well?
Understanding Spearman Correlation
Spearman correlation measures the strength of the monotonic relationship between two variables based on their ranks (not raw values). The formula is:
Where: d = difference in ranks for each state, n = number of states
Why Spearman instead of Pearson? Spearman is more robust to outliers and doesn't assume a linear relationship — it captures whether indicators tend to move in the same direction without requiring the relationship to be perfectly straight.
Interpreting Correlation Values
Correlation coefficients range from -1.0 to +1.0:
The Scatter Plot Feature
Click any cell in the correlation matrix to see a scatter plot showing the actual data points (states) for that indicator pair.
- Each point represents one state
- X-axis shows the rate for one indicator
- Y-axis shows the rate for the other indicator
- Hover over points to see state names and exact values
The scatter plot helps you see whether the correlation is driven by a few outliers or represents a genuine pattern across all states.
What This Data DOES Tell You
- Co-occurrence patterns: Which civic activities tend to appear together in states
- Potential indicator clusters: Groups of related civic behaviors
- Unexpected relationships: Surprising connections between seemingly unrelated activities
- Indicator independence: Which activities vary independently of others
What This Data Does NOT Tell You
- Causation: Correlation ≠ causation. High voting doesn't "cause" high volunteering (or vice versa)
- Individual behavior: State-level correlations don't mean individuals who do one activity do the other
- Mechanism: The data doesn't explain why indicators are related
- Temporal direction: You can't tell which behavior came first or influenced the other
- Third variables: Correlations may be driven by unmeasured factors (e.g., education, income, urbanization)
Ecological fallacy warning: State-level correlations can be very different from individual-level correlations. Don't assume what's true for states is true for people.
Common Interpretation Pitfalls
- Overinterpreting weak correlations: A correlation of 0.15 is essentially noise
- Ignoring sample size: With 51 data points (states + DC), only correlations above ~0.28 are statistically significant at p < 0.05
- Cherry-picking: With many indicator pairs, some strong correlations will occur by chance
- Assuming linearity: Spearman captures monotonic relationships, but the actual relationship may be more complex
Questions about methodology? Contact the NCoC research team.
Strongest Positive Correlations
Strongest Negative Correlations
Correlation Matrix
|
action
|
boycott
|
contact
|
donate
|
favors
|
ffissues
|
fftalk
|
meeting
|
news
|
nissues
|
ntalk
|
org
|
politicaldonor
|
views
|
volfreq
|
volunteer
|
voterstatus
|
workcont
|
workicont
|
workpride
|
worksat
|
workvol
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| action |
1.00
|
0.51
|
0.55
|
0.47
|
0.09
|
0.02
|
0.16
|
0.61
|
0.31
|
0.23
|
0.47
|
0.64
|
0.47
|
-0.13
|
-0.04
|
0.61
|
0.50
|
0.18
|
0.12
|
0.14
|
-0.22
|
0.35
|
| boycott |
0.51
|
1.00
|
0.80
|
0.64
|
-0.04
|
0.24
|
0.34
|
0.58
|
0.42
|
0.00
|
0.25
|
0.78
|
0.34
|
-0.13
|
0.12
|
0.74
|
0.45
|
0.29
|
-0.02
|
0.04
|
-0.38
|
0.48
|
| contact |
0.55
|
0.80
|
1.00
|
0.68
|
-0.00
|
0.21
|
0.37
|
0.72
|
0.46
|
0.09
|
0.33
|
0.83
|
0.30
|
-0.23
|
0.01
|
0.80
|
0.45
|
0.35
|
0.11
|
0.21
|
-0.30
|
0.43
|
| donate |
0.47
|
0.64
|
0.68
|
1.00
|
-0.17
|
0.20
|
0.42
|
0.64
|
0.60
|
-0.04
|
0.29
|
0.80
|
0.47
|
-0.15
|
-0.16
|
0.74
|
0.45
|
0.30
|
0.03
|
0.04
|
-0.44
|
0.64
|
| favors |
0.09
|
-0.04
|
-0.00
|
-0.17
|
1.00
|
-0.24
|
-0.07
|
-0.06
|
-0.29
|
0.42
|
0.56
|
-0.05
|
-0.13
|
-0.01
|
0.17
|
0.06
|
-0.19
|
0.10
|
0.35
|
0.36
|
0.04
|
-0.02
|
| ffissues |
0.02
|
0.24
|
0.21
|
0.20
|
-0.24
|
1.00
|
0.35
|
0.32
|
0.41
|
0.33
|
-0.01
|
0.25
|
0.38
|
0.19
|
0.12
|
0.12
|
0.26
|
0.11
|
-0.01
|
-0.07
|
0.08
|
0.02
|
| fftalk |
0.16
|
0.34
|
0.37
|
0.42
|
-0.07
|
0.35
|
1.00
|
0.39
|
0.49
|
0.14
|
0.25
|
0.40
|
0.19
|
-0.01
|
-0.20
|
0.31
|
0.33
|
0.14
|
-0.18
|
-0.02
|
-0.30
|
0.35
|
| meeting |
0.61
|
0.58
|
0.72
|
0.64
|
-0.06
|
0.32
|
0.39
|
1.00
|
0.62
|
0.20
|
0.35
|
0.72
|
0.40
|
-0.19
|
-0.09
|
0.66
|
0.43
|
0.29
|
0.15
|
0.18
|
-0.13
|
0.38
|
| news |
0.31
|
0.42
|
0.46
|
0.60
|
-0.29
|
0.41
|
0.49
|
0.62
|
1.00
|
0.06
|
0.26
|
0.54
|
0.35
|
-0.07
|
-0.16
|
0.42
|
0.28
|
0.05
|
-0.18
|
-0.08
|
-0.14
|
0.45
|
| nissues |
0.23
|
0.00
|
0.09
|
-0.04
|
0.42
|
0.33
|
0.14
|
0.20
|
0.06
|
1.00
|
0.50
|
0.11
|
0.24
|
0.28
|
-0.00
|
0.07
|
0.07
|
0.01
|
0.28
|
0.24
|
0.07
|
-0.08
|
| ntalk |
0.47
|
0.25
|
0.33
|
0.29
|
0.56
|
-0.01
|
0.25
|
0.35
|
0.26
|
0.50
|
1.00
|
0.41
|
0.22
|
0.02
|
-0.04
|
0.40
|
0.24
|
0.08
|
0.16
|
0.13
|
-0.14
|
0.34
|
| org |
0.64
|
0.78
|
0.83
|
0.80
|
-0.05
|
0.25
|
0.40
|
0.72
|
0.54
|
0.11
|
0.41
|
1.00
|
0.43
|
-0.20
|
-0.06
|
0.93
|
0.43
|
0.32
|
0.06
|
0.09
|
-0.43
|
0.64
|
| politicaldonor |
0.47
|
0.34
|
0.30
|
0.47
|
-0.13
|
0.38
|
0.19
|
0.40
|
0.35
|
0.24
|
0.22
|
0.43
|
1.00
|
0.15
|
-0.02
|
0.39
|
0.49
|
0.17
|
0.24
|
-0.00
|
0.07
|
0.12
|
| views |
-0.13
|
-0.13
|
-0.23
|
-0.15
|
-0.01
|
0.19
|
-0.01
|
-0.19
|
-0.07
|
0.28
|
0.02
|
-0.20
|
0.15
|
1.00
|
-0.06
|
-0.20
|
-0.02
|
-0.12
|
0.22
|
-0.06
|
-0.01
|
-0.06
|
| volfreq |
-0.04
|
0.12
|
0.01
|
-0.16
|
0.17
|
0.12
|
-0.20
|
-0.09
|
-0.16
|
-0.00
|
-0.04
|
-0.06
|
-0.02
|
-0.06
|
1.00
|
-0.06
|
-0.08
|
0.12
|
0.04
|
0.07
|
0.08
|
-0.27
|
| volunteer |
0.61
|
0.74
|
0.80
|
0.74
|
0.06
|
0.12
|
0.31
|
0.66
|
0.42
|
0.07
|
0.40
|
0.93
|
0.39
|
-0.20
|
-0.06
|
1.00
|
0.41
|
0.34
|
0.10
|
0.11
|
-0.34
|
0.60
|
| voterstatus |
0.50
|
0.45
|
0.45
|
0.45
|
-0.19
|
0.26
|
0.33
|
0.43
|
0.28
|
0.07
|
0.24
|
0.43
|
0.49
|
-0.02
|
-0.08
|
0.41
|
1.00
|
0.24
|
0.09
|
0.04
|
-0.06
|
0.26
|
| workcont |
0.18
|
0.29
|
0.35
|
0.30
|
0.10
|
0.11
|
0.14
|
0.29
|
0.05
|
0.01
|
0.08
|
0.32
|
0.17
|
-0.12
|
0.12
|
0.34
|
0.24
|
1.00
|
0.58
|
0.68
|
0.09
|
0.25
|
| workicont |
0.12
|
-0.02
|
0.11
|
0.03
|
0.35
|
-0.01
|
-0.18
|
0.15
|
-0.18
|
0.28
|
0.16
|
0.06
|
0.24
|
0.22
|
0.04
|
0.10
|
0.09
|
0.58
|
1.00
|
0.64
|
0.37
|
-0.07
|
| workpride |
0.14
|
0.04
|
0.21
|
0.04
|
0.36
|
-0.07
|
-0.02
|
0.18
|
-0.08
|
0.24
|
0.13
|
0.09
|
-0.00
|
-0.06
|
0.07
|
0.11
|
0.04
|
0.68
|
0.64
|
1.00
|
0.29
|
0.05
|
| worksat |
-0.22
|
-0.38
|
-0.30
|
-0.44
|
0.04
|
0.08
|
-0.30
|
-0.13
|
-0.14
|
0.07
|
-0.14
|
-0.43
|
0.07
|
-0.01
|
0.08
|
-0.34
|
-0.06
|
0.09
|
0.37
|
0.29
|
1.00
|
-0.38
|
| workvol |
0.35
|
0.48
|
0.43
|
0.64
|
-0.02
|
0.02
|
0.35
|
0.38
|
0.45
|
-0.08
|
0.34
|
0.64
|
0.12
|
-0.06
|
-0.27
|
0.60
|
0.26
|
0.25
|
-0.07
|
0.05
|
-0.38
|
1.00
|