Excel has many, many statistical functions from which to choose. Should you need to pull from simple descriptive or the more advanced inferential set of calculations, Excel is there to provide relief from tedious calculations and formulas. Let's follow along as we analyze some data with the help of Excel's statistical set for functions.
We
start with a typical table of data.
We have 10 pairs of scores and we wish to find the correlation coefficient. We seek the value called Pearson's R.
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We locate the active cell where we wish the value to be displayed on our spreadsheet and call the functions from the Menu with Insert + Function. Excel stores its collection of statistical support as functions.
We click on Insert and highlight the Function choice.
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This
will bring up the Function panel for us to make our selection. |
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The
left window contains the categories of functions and the
right window displays the functions in that category.
We scroll down the left window to Statistical and then scroll down the different statistical functions to Pearson.
Note the text hint that appears when you select a specific function in the right window.
Move the panel to the side so you can see your data. The cell addresses of the two columns of data are entered to tell Excel where to find your pairs of numbers. When you are satisfied you have the correct information, click OK.
The
anticipated results are entered in the correct cell!
Comment: Many of your statistical needs can be met with the collection of functions in the statistics category. Note that Excel does not ask if you "really want this function". The expectation is that you know which analysis is appropriate. You have only to pick from a list.
If there is a statistical analysis that you need and you have the correct formulas, you can enter them in your spreadsheet and let Excel do the calculations for you.