Ordinal Measures of Association

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Ordinally invariant, i.e., rank, measures of association for bivariate populations are discussed, with emphasis on the probabilistic and operational interpretations of their population values. The three measures considered at length are the quadrant measure, Kendall's tau, and Spearman's rho. Relationships between these measures are discussed, as are connections between these measures and certain measures of association for cross classifications. Sampling theory is surveyed with special attention to the motivation for sample values of the measures. The historical development of ordinal measures of association is outlined.