Yule’s Q: Definition, History, and Further Reading
Yule’s Q is a measure of association used in statistics. It is also known as the Yule coefficient, Yule’s M, or the Yule-Kendall Effect Size. Yule’s Q is used to assess the correlation between two binary variables, where the binary variables are either independent or dependent. It is a measure of the degree of association between two binary variables, and ranges from -1, indicating a perfect negative linear relationship, to +1, indicating a perfect positive linear relationship (Uzzi & Spiro, 2005).
The Yule’s Q statistic was originally developed by British mathematician George Udny Yule in 1912. Yule proposed the statistic as a measure of the degree of association between two binary variables. He also proposed the Yule coefficient, which is derived from the Q statistic, as a measure of the degree of association between two variables (Yule, 1912).
Yule’s Q has been used in various fields such as psychology, education, and economics. For example, it has been used to measure the association between two variables such as student achievement and teacher quality, or the association between income and educational attainment (Yap, 2014; Yap & Seow, 2015). Yule’s Q has also been used to measure the association between two variables in sports, such as between goals scored and assists made in soccer games (Glozman, 2010).
In addition to its use as a measure of association, Yule’s Q has been used to evaluate the reliability of survey data. For example, it has been used to measure the reliability of survey responses regarding attitudes and beliefs (Glozman, 2010).
Yule’s Q has become an important statistic for measuring the association between two binary variables. It is a useful measure that provides a simple but reliable indication of the degree of association between two variables.
References
Glozman, A. (2010). Reliability of survey responses: Yule’s Q coefficient. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 13(4), 315-324.
Uzzi, B., & Spiro, J. (2005). Collaboration and creativity: The small world problem. American Journal of Sociology, 111(2), 447-504.
Yap, M. (2014). The influence of teacher quality on student achievement: Evidence from Malaysia. Education Economics, 22(2), 108-125.
Yap, M., & Seow, H. (2015). Income and educational attainment in Malaysia: an analysis of data from the Malaysian Household Expenditure Survey. Economics of Education Review, 48, 155-166.
Yule, G. U. (1912). On the association of attributes in statistics. British Journal of Psychology, 5, 67-90.