uses of excel

Uses of Excel

Analyzing and Manipulating Classroom data

In This Presentation

Applications of Excel for viewing/manipulating data sets

Basic and advanced commands in Excel (insert, sort & filter, autosum, etc.)

A brief explanation of the descriptive statistics that will be used

Mani interesting furry animals…including the majestic møøse

About Me• Education: BA Sociology (Oklahoma State Univ.

‘03) MS Sociology (Univ. of North Texas ‘06)

• Teachering: US history (8th) ‘06-’08English (8th) ‘08-Spring ‘11

• Presently: Middle School Library Assistant

• Likes: donuts (all kinds, I’m not picky)• Dislikes: not having donuts

Quick Demo

• Highlight/color code rows/column• Resize rows/columns• Hide/unhide column(s) and/or row(s)

Basic commands cont'd• Wrap text (resize cells to fit/show all words)

Select the entire spreadsheet by left clicking on the square where the tabs and columns meet

Right click > “Format cells” > The box that pops up will have several tabs at the top click on “alignment”

In the middle of the box, you'll see an option to “wrap text” > Click the box next to “wrap text” > Click “OK”

Merge cells (turned several cells into one large cell) Select all the cells you wish to merge Right click > “Format cells” > The box that pops up

will have several tabs at the top click on “alignment” In the middle of the box, you'll see an option to

“merge cells” > Click the box next to “merge cells” > Click “OK”

Even More Basic Commands• Sort & Filter Arranges all your data in numerical or alphabetical

order (ascending or descending). Highlight the column you wish to sort or filter > click

on “Sort & Filter” > A box will drop-down and ask you how you would like to sort > Click on your choice

• Find & Select Enables you to find a single piece of data out of the

entire workbook. Very useful on large data sets with a lot of variables

Click on “Find & Select” at the top right > click on ”find” > In the box that appears click on “Options” > next to “Within” change the search parameter to “workbook” > Type in your wayward variable and click ”Find All”.

An Advanced Basic Command(?)

• Hyperlinking – Perhaps, you don’t want to go through all of your

various directories to find a test document Or maybe, you need a quick reference to source

material on the web In each of these cases, hyperlinking is a handy tool Right-Click on the cell that you wish to hyperlink ->

click on hyperlink at the bottom -> find the file or the webpage that you would like to link to, highlight it -> Click ‘OK’Caution: when hyperlinking a file, the file has to be in the same directory as one you assigned the hyperlink. In the case of hyperlinking a webpage, this will only work if your computer has an active Internet connection

Advanced Commands• Autosum defaults to adding the selected

columns• The drop down menu gives you six more

options Sum (default) Average Count Numbers (Number of cells that contain a value

in a selection) Min (lowest value in a selection) Max (highest value in a selection) More Functions

Measures of Variation

• We tend to get hung up on the test score average.

• It’s also useful to know how “alike” the test scores are.

• The most effective MoVs for classroom data are the range and standard deviation

Range• Select the dataset > click "Sort & Filter" in top

right corner > "Sort A to Z“• Now, your dataset will be in numerical order,

scroll to the bottom - note the "bottom-est" value > scroll up, note the "top-est" value

• Subtract the lowest value ("top-est") from the highest value ("bottom-est"); the result = the range

• The range should always be larger than the standard deviation. It's more telling also - 10 points of range will represent a letter grade

The Normal/Bell Curve

• Standard deviation (STDEV) is a fancy way to show how "alike" your data is/are

• Basically, it shows the "average difference" of your data

• A higher value indicates a bigger spread of values (in the case of test scores, this might mean some students didn't fully absorb your lesson *gasp* - that you need to appeal to more modalities when preparing your lessons (visual, aural, etc.))

Standard Deviation

Manual Input• This may come as a shock, but Microsoft didn't

automate every function• One example is range (maximum value minus

minimum value) which is a simpler version of SD

• To calculate range on a given set of values select the...err...selection (row - start with the first blank cell to the right of your selection, columns - start at the first blank cell directly below the selection)

• In the blank cell adjacent to the selection type: SUM(MAX(*COORDINATES*)- MIN (*COOR -DINATES*)) . where *COORDINATES* is the row/ column of your selection.

• Again, higher values means something's amiss

Insert

Wrap Text and Merge Cells

More Basic Commands

Sum

STDEV

Manual Input

A Simpler Method

Insert

WT-MC

SD

Behavior

Assessment

Handout