Comparing Data Sets Using Statistical Analysis in Excel
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Are you ready to try something really challenging with Excel? Can you handle basic statistical analysis, but find you want or need to dig more deeply into the data set? Keep reading; this three-part series will show you how to extract even more information from those numbers by using the principles of inferential statistics.We have previously discussed
doing statistical analysis with MS Excel. It explains how to use Excel to analyze for descriptive statistics. If you read it, you learned how to create a histogram, do some scatter plots and minor regression analysis.
This tutorial advances the use of MS Excel to work with inferential statistics. This branch of statistics deals with the comparison of quantitative data sets and making sound judgment with the use analysis tools.
Inferential statistics is often ignored in the business and engineering world. The primary reason is the complexity of the analysis involved; it requires both a basic and an advanced knowledge of statistical analysis. It is true that not all firms can hire or afford a major statistics graduate. Thanks to Microsoft Excel, with the built-in tools available and by following this tutorial, you can analyze complex sets of data and draw inferences from them just like any professional statistician.
But first, before we go deeper, you can expect to achieve the following from reading this tutorial:
- Learn the data analysis tools available in MS Excel that can be used for data comparison and doing inferential analysis.
- Learn the basic statistical techniques used to compare the means and standard deviation of any set of data.
- Learn how to implement these statistical techniques in MS Excel.
The Requirements
First, you need MS Excel installed on your computer. This program comes with Office applications such as MS Word, MS PowerPoint etc. One of the things you need to install is the Data Analysis ToolPak. This is an add-on for Microsoft's Excel package.
Before installing this add-on, you can check to see if it is installed already. You can check the menu under Tools, where you should find Data Analysis. If you cannot find it there, then you need to install it.
You need the Office Installer CD or any disk that you use when you install MS Excel for the first time. If you cannot find one, then you can contact Microsoft for support.
Place the installer CD on the CD drive or connect it to your computer. Exit if any auto play message appears, and then go to Tools -> Add-in. Depending on the Excel versions installed on your computer, you should check either "Analysis toolpak" or "Analysis toolpak (VBA)." Then click OK. If installation message occurs, browse to the disk and continue the installation.
You may need to restart your Excel application after this. However, this tutorial has been written in such a way that even if you cannot install Data Analysis Toolpak (which will be covered in part two of this tutorial), you can still perform the statistical analysis discussed in this article using built-in functions.
Next: A Basic Statistics Lesson >>
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