Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 1
Using Excel for Statistical Analysis .............................................................................................................................................1
About You and About Excel .................................................................................................................................................2
Clearing Up the Terms .........................................................................................................................................................3
Making Things Easier ...........................................................................................................................................................3
The Wrong Box? ..................................................................................................................................................................4
Wagging the Dog ................................................................................................................................................................6
What’s in This Book ...................................................................................................................................................................6
1 About Variables and Values ......................................................................................................... 9
Variables and Values ..................................................................................................................................................................9
Recording Data in Lists ......................................................................................................................................................10
Making Use of Lists ............................................................................................................................................................11
Scales of Measurement ............................................................................................................................................................13
Category Scales ..................................................................................................................................................................13
Numeric Scales ..................................................................................................................................................................15
Telling an Interval Value from a Text Value .......................................................................................................................16
Charting Numeric Variables in Excel ........................................................................................................................................18
Charting Two Variables ......................................................................................................................................................18
Understanding Frequency Distributions ..................................................................................................................................21
Using Frequency Distributions ...........................................................................................................................................23
Building a Frequency Distribution from a Sample .............................................................................................................26
Building Simulated Frequency Distributions ......................................................................................................................34
2 How Values Cluster Together ......................................................................................................37
Calculating the Mean ...............................................................................................................................................................38
Understanding Functions, Arguments, and Results ...........................................................................................................39
Understanding Formulas, Results, and Formats ................................................................................................................42
Minimizing the Spread ......................................................................................................................................................44
Calculating the Median ............................................................................................................................................................49
Choosing to Use the Median ..............................................................................................................................................50
Static or Robust? ................................................................................................................................................................51
Calculating the Mode ...............................................................................................................................................................52
Getting the Mode of Categories with a Formula ................................................................................................................56
From Central Tendency to Variability .......................................................................................................................................63
3 Variability: How Values Disperse .................................................................................................65
Measuring Variability with the Range .....................................................................................................................................66
Sample Size and the Range ...............................................................................................................................................67
Variations on the Range ....................................................................................................................................................69
The Concept of a Standard Deviation .......................................................................................................................................70
Arranging for a Standard ...................................................................................................................................................71
Thinking in Terms of Standard Deviations .........................................................................................................................72
