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Statistical Guides: Using Excel for Statistics - Tips and Warnings

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Dated: November 2000

Author: Statistical Services Centre

A booklet aimed at staff working withing research projects, providing information about using Excel for statistical work. Although Excel can be very helpful for data manipulation, summary, tabulation and its graphical capabilities, and has the benefit of being more familiar to the average user, it can result in poor practice if not used optimally, and it is not ideal for more advanced statistical methods such as ANOVA.  This guide helps the user understand how and when to make use of Excel within a research project context and contains tips and warnings for avoiding problems.

Taken from the introduction:

"The availability of spreadsheets that include facilities for data management and statistical analysis has changed the way people manage their information. Their power and ease of use have given new opportunities for data analysis, but they have also brought new problems and challenges for the user.

[...]

In this guide we point out strengths, and weaknesses, when using Excel for statistical tasks. We include data management, descriptive statistics, pivot tables, probability distributions, hypothesis tests, analysis of variance and regression. We give the salient points as tips and warnings. For those who need more than Excel we list some of the ways that users can add to its facilities, or use Excel in combination with other software. Finally we give our conclusions about the use of Excel for statistical work."

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