Data analysis
Level of difficulty: Intermediate
Create your own spreadsheet for analysis - one which you will find useful. Alternatively, follow this example. To do so you would typically work through the following steps:
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Data analysis |
Level of difficulty: Intermediate |
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| As an educator your class may collect data from your community while on a field trip. You will need to collate and summarise the data they received from the respondents (by sorting information and doing simple counts). You will do this by using Microsoft Excel, a spreadsheet application. | |
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Create your own spreadsheet for analysis - one which you will find useful. Alternatively, follow this example. To do so you would typically work through the following steps: |
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Description |
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| 1 | Start Microsoft Excel | How to start Microsoft Excel |
| 2 | Type column headings: In Cell A1, type the word "Respondents". Type in other headings (for example, Gender, Age, Occupation, Qualification). You can use any other headings which might be relevant to your situation. | What are cells and cell addresses |
| 3 | Save your workbook: Remember to save your work at regular intervals | How to save a file |
| 4 | Resize your columns: You can make your column wide enough to fit the current information. You can re-do this whenever a column is too narrow or wide. | What is a column indicator? How to select a column How to resize a column |
| 5 | Use Autofill to enter Numbers automatically: Use Autofill to automatically insert numbers for all of your respondents. |
How to use autofill |
| 6 | Enter columns of numbers: Type in the data (for example, respondents' ages). | TIP: to make your work easier, use the numeric pad on the right side of the keyboard to enter numbers (make sure the Num Lock button is on), and use the arrow keys to move down to the next row. |
| 7 | Enter columns of text: Type in text information (for example, "Male" or "Female") as per the information collected. |
NOTE: Excel helps you not to type the whole word because it find a match in the column above, so you may only need to type "F" or "M" and push enter. |
| 8 | Sort your information in a simple way: You might want to sort your data, eg. have all the females first, then the males. | How to perform a simple sort NOTE: you can sort and re-sort as many times as you like, so you can easily re-sort your respondents to the original, numeric order. |
| 9 | Calculate an average: At the bottom of a column of numeric information (for example, "Age"), you can use the AVERAGE function to calculate the average. | Using formulae |
| 10 | Count the number of items in a column: If you wanted to count the number of items in a column containing text (for example, Gender), you would need to use the COUNTIF function. | Using other formulae |
| 11 | Save your file | How to save a file File management |
| 12 | Print your worksheet: You may like to print the data | How to print a worksheet |
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| Related scenarios Create a graph Import a graph into a word processor Pivot tables for more complex analysis |
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