INTRODUCTION TO MICROSOFT EXCEL ZAK BUSCHBACH

OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE

INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH, ASSESSMENT, AND PLANNING

Download the dataset to follow along today at:

http://tinyurl.com/irapexcelbasics

WHAT IS EXCEL, AND WHY DO WE USE IT?

Excel is a spreadsheet program that allows you to store, organize, and analyze information

Descriptives: For continuous variables, displays mean, median, mode, minimum/maximum, and range. Frequencies: For categorical variables, displays percentages, distributions, Skewness Tables/Graphs Storing, Sorting, Recoding, Manipulating, Cleaning Data Calculations & Formulas

EXCEL BASICS: ROWS, COLUMNS, AND CELLS

Rows: each numbered along the left side of the spreadsheet

Columns: labeled with letters along the top part of the spreadsheet. Cells: each cell is

represented by a rectangular box. Currently only cell A1 is selected. Multiple cells can be selected by clicking and dragging the selected cell.

GENERAL FORMULA RULES

• If it’s text (not a cell reference), wrap it in double quotes (“”)

• Always close your parentheses

• If you forget the order of a formula’s components, look at the “help text” that pops up below the formula bar

EXCEL BASICS: SUMS AND AVERAGES • We will use the following hypothetical sample of Oxy students and calculate the total money

earned on campus, and the average GPA.

EXCEL BASICS: SUMS AND AVERAGES • To find the sum, start by typing “=sum” below the column of numbers you want to

add together. Next, select the range of numbers you want the sum of (blue rectangular box)

EXCEL BASICS: SUMS AND AVERAGES • To find the average GPA, type “=average” and again select the numbers you want to

average with the blue rectangular box

EXCEL BASICS: SORTING

• Excel’s ability to sort is invaluable when you need to focus on particular areas and organize your data.

• In our example, we will sort by sex, then by GPA • The first step to sorting your data is selecting your

entire dataset, then clicking DataSort

EXCEL BASICS: SORTING

• In the pop-up window, you will then be presented with your sorting options. Click “Add Level” to add another layer of sorting. Note that the order can also be changed.

EXCEL BASICS: SORTING

• These data are sorted by sex first, then ascending GPA

EXCEL BASICS: MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM • To find the minimum or maximum in a set of numbers, repeat the same process

except type “=min” or “=max”

EXCEL BASICS: QUARTILES

• When calculating quartiles for a range of number, you can choose exactly which quartile you want displayed, notated by a 1, 2, or 3. Note that after you select your range of number, you must use a comma followed by a space then a number.

EXCEL BASICS: CONCATENATE/&

• The concatenate function in Excel is useful because it allows you to combine two columns. • For example, we will combine the first name and last name columns • The new column will display names as last name, first name • The first step is to create a new column, which can be done by right-clicking the column letter

Insert

EXCEL BASICS: CONCATENATE/&

• In the new column, type “=concatenate” then select the two cells that you want to combine

• You may also use the form =A2&”, “&B2

• In this example, a comma between the two names is created by typing (D2,”, “,C2)

• Double-click the bottom right corner of the cell to fill the formula down through the column

• Text to Columns is the opposite of concatenate – it splits data apart, either at a fixed point in the data, or based on a delimiter (space, comma, etc.)

• Go to Data>Text to Columns

TEXT TO COLUMNS

Note: you typically want to select delimited. Any words separated by commas or spaces fall under this category.

TEXT TO COLUMNS • In this case, the names were separated by a comma.

• Now, the last names and first names appear in two different columns

CREATING AND INTERPRETING PIVOTTABLES

• PivotTables are one of Excel’s most powerful functions. • Allow you to pick and choose the variables you want to compare. • Make meaningful interpretations from your data.

• To make your PivotTable, select your data then click insertPivotTable • Create a unique identifier for each case, if not already present (such as

A# or PIDM) • Insert>New Column>“UniqueID”>Autofill with increasing numbers • This will be your count variable

CREATING AND INTERPRETING PIVOTTABLES

• “PivotTable Field List” will then pop up on the right side of the screen. Your different variables will be displayed, which you can drag into the different boxes below. In this example, sex and race are the column and row labels, while the values displayed are the count of each gender for every race.

CREATING AND INTERPRETING PIVOT TABLES Column Percent

Row Percent

• To find your column percent, right-click one of your values and select show values as% of column total

• These numbers tell you what percent of each gender are Asian, Black, Latino, etc.

• For example, you can conclude that 28.57% of the women are Asian

• To find your row percent, right-click one of your values and select show values as% of row total

• These numbers tell you what percent of each race are male or female

• For example, you can conclude that 40% of Asians are female

Note: Row and Column percent are only used with categorical variables

FORMATTING NUMBERS IN PIVOTTABLES

• To format numbers in PivotTables, right-click on one of your numbers, then go to number format.

• On the pop-up menu, you can select the number of decimal places you want displayed which will apply to every number in your PivotTable.

Right-click

CREATING A PIVOTCHART FROM A PIVOTTABLE

• The first step to creating a PivotChart is dragging the desired variables into the appropriate areas on the PivotTable Field list. Once your PivotTable appears, click on it, then go to Insert and select your desired chart type. In this case, we will use a 2D bar chart.

CREATING A PIVOTCHART FROM A PIVOTTABLE

• Once your PivotChart appears, you can add features to make your chart more complete. On the Layout tab, you can add a Chart Title, Data Labels and Axis Titles. On the Design tab, you can click different chart layouts to change the feel of your PivotChart.

CREATING A PIVOTCHART FROM A PIVOTABLE

• By dragging variables into the report filter, you can select the exact variables you want to be displayed on the graph.

CREATING A VLOOKUP FUNCTION

• Vlookup can retrieve data from other tables and display it on your table of interest.

• The data in “Tabl2” is on an independent spreadsheet

• Vlookup will allow us to display whether or not a student is a 1st gen on our primary table

Note: make sure to name your secondary table. This makes it easier to create the vlookup syntax

Table name

CREATING A VLOOKUP FUNCTION To create your vlookup function, start by typing “=vlookup(“ followed by the cell you want to lookup (must be in the leftmost column of the lookup table), then the lookup table name (Tabl2), then the column number that contains the information you want displayed, followed by “False”

Note: the column letter corresponds with the column number. For example, column B is “2”

PRINT AREA • To set your print area, select the data you want printed,

then go to Page LayoutPrint AreaSet Print Area

PASTE SPECIAL

• Paste Special > Values is the most common – takes the data that the formulas output and “flattens” them (turns them into plain text)

• Can also paste source formatting or paste underlying formulas

• Transpose swaps rows and columns