Inferential procedures for estimating and comparing normal correlation coefficients based
on incomplete samples with a monotone missing pattern are considered. The procedures
are based on the generalized variable (GV) approach. It is shown that the GV methods based
on complete or incomplete samples are exact for estimating or testing a simple correlation
coefficient. Procedures based on incomplete samples for comparing two overlapping
dependent correlation coefficients are also proposed. For both problems, Monte Carlo
simulation studies indicate that the inference based on incomplete samples and those
based on samples after listwise or pairwise deletion are similar, and the loss of efficiency by
ignoring additional data is not appreciable. The proposed GV approach is simple, and it can
be readily extended to other problems such as the one of estimating two non-overlapping
dependent correlations. The results are illustrated using two examples.