This demonstration illustrates the effect of restricting the range of scores on the the correlaton between variables. When the demonstration begins, the dataset "Strrength" is displayed. The X-axis contains scores on a measure of grip strength; the Y-axis contains scores on a measure of arm strength. Notice that there is a strong relationship. Also note that the two scatterplots are identical and both show that for the entire dataset of 147 subjects, the correlaton is 0.63.

The two vertical bars on the upper graph can be used to select a subset of scores to be plotted on the lower graph. If you click on the left-hand bar and drag it to the right, scores to the left of the bar will not be included on the lower graph. The correlaton shown for the lower graph shows only the correlation for the data in the subset.

Similarly, if you drag the right-hand bar to the left, scores to the right of the bar will be excluded.

If you click the "Data outside bars" button, the lower graph will, as you might expect, only include scores to the left of the left-hand bar and to the right of the right-hand bar.