Introduction to Statistics using Microsoft Excel, An , livre ebook

UJ Press - Joseph English , George Onofrei , Dan Remenyi

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

236 pages

English

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

A significant amount of academic research his conducted using quantitative research methods. In many universities large and expensive statistical software has been acquired. However much of this software requires a considerable amount of training before researchers are capable of using it correctly and this can cause difficulties.Many academic researchers are surprised by just how much analytical work can be done using the ubiquitous Microsoft Excel software. This book presents a course on the use of statistics in academic research starting with simple descriptive techniques and working through to sophisticated inferential methods.A step-by-step approach has been taken and has been described by users of this book as similar to having the teacher standing by you as you learn about some of the sophisticated methods of handling and understanding data.Readers of this book have my best wishes in achieving their objectives through their work with academic research.

Sujets

Littérature Sud-Africaine

Littérature sud-africaine

Informations

Publié par	UJ Press
Date de parution	16 août 2022
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781776413454
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	15 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,1000€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

An Introduction to Statisticsusing Microsoft Excel

Dan Remenyi, George Onofrei & Joseph English

An Introduction to Statistics using Microsoft Excel

Published by UJ Press under the Hoopoe Press imprint University of Johannesburg Library Auckland Park Kingsway Campus PO Box 524 Auckland Park 2006 https://ujonlinepress.uj.ac.za/

Compilation © Dan Remenyi 2022

Chapters © Dan Remenyi 2022

Published Edition © Dan Remenyi 2022

First published 2010 by Academic Conferences and Publishing International Limited

(978-1-906638-55-9)

This edition 2022

https://doi.org/10.36615/9781776413454

978-1-7764134-4-7 (Paperback)

978-1-7764134-5-4 (PDF)

Cover design: Hester Roets, UJ Graphic Design Studio

Typeset in 10/12pt Tahoma

Preface to the First Edition To illustrate the statistical functions and techniques within Excel we have used examples drawn for the world of research. We chose to do this be-cause we believe this will clearly demonstrate some of the facilities within this spreadsheet. However, the statistical power of Excel will allow read-ers to use this software in a variety of ways, far beyond that of research. art. It is a science in that it is a body of knowledge which is built on a series of well established rules of applied mathematics. Rigorous statisti-cal analysis is required for quantitative research. There is no argument about how statistical calculations or techniques are to be performed and if the rules are not followed then incorrect answers will most probably be produced. However statistics is also an art that requires a considerable amount of judgement on the part of a practitioner. Judgements and deci-sions have to be made that relate to deciding how a research question should be designed and the role of data and statistics in answering it. There are issues relating to which statistical technique to use, what level of significance to work at, and how the results can be interpreted. What is also problematic in statistics, which is why it should be regarded as an art, is that there may be disagreements among practitioners about the meaning on these judgements and what answers could be given. It is indeed common to find different researchers taking quite different posi-tions concerning which statistical technique is best to use. Not to mention the fact that the same statistical results can be understood differently. Excel, with its built in statistical functions is a good tool to use to become familiar with statistics. There are many statistical functions in Excel but this book only addresses the functions required to perform the tasks most often required by researchers. Advanced functions are not used. It is also important to say that Excel has limitations as a statistical package and experienced researchers may well need to use a dedicated statistics package as well as Excel. This book is not intended to cover all the possible statistical procedures or techniques that can be performed within Excel. The intention is that it will be an introduction to statistics which will facilitate readers to acquire the knowledge to understand the basics and to progress further if he or she so wishes. Furthermore for those who wish to use Excel in more ad-vanced ways there is a list of add-in products in the Appendix. Dan Remenyi Dan.remenyi@gmail.comJune 2009

Preface to the Second Edition Individual performance with respect to understanding numbers varies considerably. Some people appear to be able to handle arithmetic, mathematics and statistics with much greater ease than others. Some people believe that they just can’t do any form of mathematical manipu-lation. Recently in a shop I bought three items which cost £2, £4 and £5. The shop attendant reached for a calculator. I said, “Don’t worry, I owe you £11”. She looked at me with a combination of alarm, suspicion and contempt and proceeded to key the numbers into the calculator anyway. “Yes. It was £11”, she said. I suppose she could be described as being a victim of arithmophobia which is defined as a state of anxiety brought on by having to deal with numbers. It has been thought for aeons that prowess with numbers was an innate ability which was sometimes described as having a “gift”. The belief was that the brains of people who could do numbers were somehow differ-ently wired to those who could not. In recent years it was said that there had to be a maths gene. However it is now believed that although clearly there is some variation in natural ability with respect to performance in these subjects the reason for the wide variation is more to do with how the subject was originally taught and the amount of encouragement which an individual received from his or her teachers, mentors and fam-ily. The handling of numbers in arithmetic and the progression into the more abstract field of mathematics and statistics is generally approached poorly in our education system. The inadequacy is not necessarily in the teaching techniques or the books and other texts used but rather in the attitude towards these subjects. These subjects are seen as something which has to be taught because it is part of a preordained curriculum rather than a set of tools which are available to help people live a fuller, more productive and more interesting life. It is so enlightening when one hears people say, “I thought that when I left school I was leaving all the maths stuff behind me!” or “I was bored witless by all those numbers and formulas [sic] that were forced down my throat”. By the way these comments in no way imply that the inadequacy in han-dling numbers by these people is “all the teachers’ fault”. It is deeply embedded in our culture. Parents who never liked arithmetic and maths pass on their attitudes to their children as surely as they pass on other family beliefs and/or prejudices. We are often encouraged to believe that numbers are hard and that it is OK not to be able to be good with them. And to add to this, children’s play culture can reinforce these problems in a number of different ways. I was quite startled to recently see a video of

a little girl’s talking plastic doll which among other things said “Maths is hard”. But the gender issue is yet another story to be dealt with else-where. This book was written out of a frustration at seeing statistics taught through formal methods using large scale statistics software packages. It seemed to me that very little was learned by this process and quite often both the teachers and the students were in denial. It is true that the stu-dents were generally able to pick up enough knowledge to pass an ex-amination or to complete a piece of research. But I seldom saw anything which could be regarded as deep learning and the little which had been learned did not stay for any length of time in the heads of these learners. I know people who have passed several university level courses in statis-tics and they can hardly recall never mind use any of what was taught to them. The purpose of the book was to get people involved with statistics gently, through the use of a very popular software package which although de-signed for general calculation had statistical features, mostly in the form of statistical functions, built into it. The book facilitates the reader in learning a material amount about this subject on a step by step basis. A lot of emphasis is placed on knowing the vocabulary and checking one’s own progress as one proceeds. This seems to have worked and I was truly delighted to receive positive feedback and especially an e-mail from a reader who told me that having the book nearby was almost as good as having a personal teacher in the room. I was also told that with the help of the book many of the long standing problems with the subject has been dissolved and washed away. The Self Test and the additional assignments are an important part of this. As anyone can quickly see the book is intended to address most of the basic needs of those wanting to start out to learn to use statistics and it leaves the more esoteric aspects of the subject to other texts. nd As a consequence of this we have only made one change to the 2 Edi-tion. We have added a prologue rather than a chapter at the beginning of the second edition of the book. This prologue we have calledStatistics and thinking statistically.The main purpose of this prologue is to situate statistics and how it can help our thinking within the greater context of our daily lives. Statistics is too often seen like the way arithmetic has been described above as something we have to do because it is in the syllabus and it is expected of us but it does not have anything to do with our real lives. This should not be the case.

iii

Thinking statistically plants this subject right in the middle of anyone’s everyday life. It is effectively another more sophisticated way of seeing the world. It looks beyond the obvious. It encourages one to think about variation and association. It questions our current models of how things work and it allows us to bring a new level of reality into our view of what is going on around us. Thinking statistically requires sensitivity to nu-meric data and the level of this is more than reached by the content of this book. We have therefore produced this book in the hope that it will not only facilitate the learning of the software package and the statistical formulae and functions used therein but that it will also help readers’ ability to be more aware of variation and association in the world around them. Dan Remenyi Dan.remenyi@gmail.comMay 2015