admin管理员组文章数量:1568418
2024年7月2日发(作者:)
Microsoft Excel™ As a Tool for Teaching Basic Statistics
C. Bruce Warner
Anita M. Meehan
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
Many
or
instructorsusespecializedstatisticspackages,suchas
courses.
SAS/STAT
Excel™
Asan
inteachingquantitativeandresearchmethods
SPSS
which
found
provides
offerscharting
alternative
asetofdata
capabilities
tothespecialized
analysis
and
tools
the
packages,Microsoft
beyond
Analysis
those
ToolPak,
what
gram.
one
inspreadsheets.
statistics
We
would
WithAnalysisToolPak,Excelresembles
normally
havesuccessfully
expectfrom
integrated
aspecializedlow-levelstatisticspro-
through
coursesanddevelopedatutorial
Excel
manual
intoour
to
introductory
ratings
ent
guidestudents
student
discuss
ofanintermediateformofthemanualanditsexercisesand
than a specialized statistical package for teaching basic statistics.
theadvantagesanddisadvantagesofusingExcelrather
sciences,
Similarto
software
courses.
such
foryears
many
asSPSS
we
instructors
relied
inthesocialandbehavioral
inour
primarily
statistics
on
and
specializedstatistical
spreadsheet
Ascomputer
sheet
statistics.
application
programs
technologyhasbecome
research
ubiquitous
methods
and
wasnot
more
a
popular,wewonderedifaspread-
pected
we
touse
Keeping
spreadsheets
inmind
better
in
that
mediumforafirstcoursein
their
most
work
studentswouldbeex-
software package, in our introductory statistics courses.
begantouseMicrosoftExcel™,a
places
popular
(Davis,
spreadsheet
1997),
Why Use a Spreadsheet Application
Such as Excel?
students
Onereasonweembracedaspreadsheetapplicationis
generalize
needdataanalysisandcomputerskillsthatthey
that
can
work
use
inenvironments
tsarelikelyto
ration,
ofspreadsheet
ers
1996).Arecent
applications,
inwhichgeneral
surveyfound
areexpected
softwareskills,suchas
thatprospective
(Olsten
employ-
Corpo-
skills,
ranked
vis,
hires
1997).
ashighly
spreadsheet
Moreover,
desirable
skills
86%
andexpected
second,behindword-processing
ofthe
skillsfornewhires(Da-
detailed
togo
ued
analyses.
beyond
Davis
spreadsheet
alsofound
basics
employers
that
and
employers
beable
expected
to
new
highly
perform
val-
believe
Another
theability
1995).
its
reason
tocreate
simplicity
wedecided
presentationsandgraphs.
facilitates
toteach
student
withExcelisthatwe
on
Studentscanconcentratemoreon
learning
statisticsand
(Henle,
less
spreadsheet
tryisofteneasierin
grams
somefamiliarity
suchas
applications
SPSS.
with
Moreover,
thanin
spreadsheets,
many
specializedstatisticalpro-
thereby
students
reducing
already
the
have
time
Vol. 28, No. 4, 2001
instructors
experience,
statistical
generated
packages
the
must
sophisticated
devoteto
canbeconfusing
output
for
generated
students.
by
The
advanced
output
troductory
by
struction.
statistics
Exceloften
textbook
matches
exercises
examples
orin
presented
classroom
inin-
in-
tronic
AnotheradvantageofExcelisthatit
assignment
tudent
simplifies
turns
the
in
elec-
file,
ondiskorviae-mail,theinstructorcanopenthe
an
the
dent
file
examine
the
turns
using
the
inan
the
contents,andattachcommentsdirectlyto
assignment
annotation
in
tance,whenastu-
points
wrong
When
directly
test,the
tothe
instructor
which
errorand
caninsert
heorshehasperformed
offers
atextballoonthat
loon
balloon
into
wegrade
anopen
assignments,
workbook,
we
so
save
that
a
we
copy
corrective
can
of
later
each
advice.
paste
textbal-
a similar mistake.
intotheworkbookofanotherstudentwhohasmade
the
and
A
with
universities
finaladvantage
already
ofusing
own
ts
an
spreadsheetsoftware,whereas
orhave
specialized
accessto
programs
computers
are
have
added
is only available in selected campus locations.
limited
expense.
access
The
tothe
extra
specialized
costalso
statistical
meansthat
software,
students
asit
Why Choose Excel?
standard
Wewere
statistics
for
familiar
ourcampus.
withExcel
Still,
becauseitisthespreadsheet
easily
course,asitperforms
itisanaturalchoicefora
and
customizablegraphsusing
most
itsChart
basicanalyses,
Wizardfeature,
creates
bility
Similar
isthe
Paste
tosolve
to
market
all
both
spreadsheet
leaderinitsproductcategory.
simple
applications,
andcomplex
Excel
equations.
hasthecapa-
lier
through
than
Function(knownasFunctionWizardinversions
Excel’s
ear-
into
the
Excel
steps
95)
necessary
simplifies
to
theprocessbytakingyou
tion
mple,
paste
you
statistical
canuse
calculations
Paste
standard deviation, variance, and correlation.
tofindcommonstatisticssuchasmean,median,mode,
Func-
ysis
Excel
install
ToolPak.
alsocontains
you
thisadd-in
Once
as
you
alesscommonlyknownfeature:Anal-
aworking
haveperformed
part
thesimplestepsthat
tics,
haveanarrayoftoolsforperforming
ofyourExcelapplication,
and
tistical
two-factor),
ttests,ANOVA
descriptivestatis-
correlation,
(one-way,one-wayrepeatedmeasures,
basicExcel
and
application.
graphingcapabilities
and
Toillustrate
that
regression.
the
are
Italsoaddssta-
relative
unavailable
simplicity
inthe
of
295
ndent-samples
t
-testdialogbox(top)andsample
output produced by the procedure (bottom).
the
example
Analysis
dependent-samples
ofthe
ToolPak,
dialogbox
the
that
toppanelofFigure1containsan
variable
t-testanalysis.
appears
Inthe
when
dialog
youselect
box,
anin-
from
sheet
each
range”
group.
referstothespreadsheetlocationforthe
“input
data
sumption
columnsrepresenting
Inourexample,
thehypothetical
wehaddataintwospread-
group
include
(B1–B13).
ofameditation
From
group(A1–A13)versus
pain-pill
acontrol
con-
to
columnlabelswith
thedialog
thedata
box,youcanalsochooseto
appears in the bottom panel of Figure 1.
clarifytheoutputfromtheprocedure.
beinginput.
TheExcel
Labels
output
help
cel,
Additional
Excel
including
resources
variousstatistical
existtosupport
add-ins
instruction
and
withEx-
evolvedaroundthetopicofusingspreadsheetsinmathematics
etdiscussion
simulations
groupshave
for
and
starting
science
tion
points
education,
forExcelresources
including
on
teaching
theWeb
statistics.
are
Good
/lists/)
ofStatisticsSpecialistsUsingMicrosoftExcel
the
(ASSUME;
Associa-
sheetsinEducation(/Spreadsite/).
andSpread-
Student Evaluation of Excel
signments
Beginning
oped
into
around
ourintroductory
1996,weincorporatedafewExcelas-
expanded
statistics
theFall
course
1998semester,
anddevel-
we
ual
Function,
forstudents.
ouruse
Analysis
The
ofExcel
ToolPak,
manual
and
explained
developedaninstructionman-
andChart
how
Wizard
touse
to
the
perform
Paste
296
many
tics
those
course.
ofthebasic
output,
inFigure
The
procedurescoveredinanintroductorystatis-
1),
manual
sample
included
problems
screen
with
,
workassignment
andhomework
follows:
associated
exampleof
statistical
ahome-
Make
ent-samples
upa
group.
t
data
test
setthatisappropriateforanindepend-
neath
tion
the
Do
output
theanalysis
andlabel
generated
and
15scoresper
by
save
Excel,
theoutput
type
-
served
of
group,
t
the
and
results.
itsactual
This
pvalue,
must
the
include:
critical
the
in
t,the
value
yourinterpreta-
means
oftheob-
.05,
ha
foreach
=
sults
two-tailed.
ent-samples
underStep
See
ttest using Excel.
4of
the
the
model
section
provided
oncomputing
forinterpreting
anindepend-
re-
that
Werequiredstudentstogeneratesimulated
with
each
analysis.
practice
submissionwasoriginalandtoprovide
datato
students
ensure
had
Byexamining
ingenerating
thedata
simple
and
data
interpretations
setsappropriatefor
ceptions
generated,
dures.
thatstudents
wecould
had
oftendiscoverandcorrect
students
miscon-
scores
For
forming a related-samples
from
instance,
twoimaginary
somestudents
aboutvarious
independent
persisted
statistical
samples
ingenerating
proce-
whenper-
ing
Studentscompletedfive
ttest.
requiredExcel
turn
the
pleting
inat
tion,almostallstudents
assignments
chose
dur-
to
our
three.
least
To
one
improve
bonusassignment,
our
withthemajoritycom-
uation of student reactions to Excel.
instructionmanual,wedecided
teaching
toconduct
ofstatistics
aformal
aswell
eval-
as
Method
Participants
1998
Wesurveyed49ofthe52studentsenrolledin
ual
ter.
and
Introductory
anonymous.
Participation
completed
Statistics
the
classeswhohadusedthe
our
man-
Fall
in
Excel
the
assignments
surveywas
during
voluntary
thesemes-
and
Measures
the
We
four-part
homework
askedthe
rated
questionnaire.
assignments
studentstoexpresstheiropinionsabout
In
and
Parts
the
A
course
through
manual
C,students
usinga
semantic
the
A)
differential
assignments
descriptions
andmanual.
of
Students
theassignments
respondedto
ranging
and
left
from
thecoursemanual(PartC)ona5-pointscale,
(Part
In
)
statements
Part
to5
B,
(complete
1(completeagreementwiththedescriptiononthe
participants
agreement
responded
withthedescriptionontheright).
were
disagree
also
abouttheExcelassignments.
tocourse
Ratings
goal-oriented
onPartB
the
)to
based
5
ona5-pointscalerangingfrom1(strongly
students
mean
to
responses
(strongly
providefree-form
appear
agree).
in
Thecompletesetofitemsand
comments
and
D
suggestions.
prompted
Teaching of Psychology
Table 1.
Evaluation Item
Summary of Student Responses Concerning the Fall 1998 Excel™ Homework Assignments
and the Fall 1998 Excel Manual
M
3.59
3.40
3.51
3.39
3.06
3.65
3.43
3.84
3.86
3.37
3.94
3.65
3.69
3.90
3.96
4.20
3.69
3.04
2.98
3.84
3.49
4.25
SD
0.61
0.89
0.98
1.02
1.22
0.81
1.00
0.85
1.04
1.04
0.99
0.90
0.96
1.02
0.64
0.89
1.07
0.71
0.32
0.85
1.00
0.80
Assignments—Part A: Semantic differential items
Extremely bad–extremely good
Boring–interesting
Difficult–easy
Unpleasant–pleasant
Not frustrating–frustrating
Imposing–friendly
Confusing–clear
Too much work–not too much work
Not useful–useful
Assignments—Part B: Likert-scale items
The Excel assignments helped me understand statistical concepts better
The Excel assignments improved my computer skills
The Excel assignments allowed me to be creative
The Excel assignments required critical thinking on my part
The Excel assignments gave me skills I can use
Excel manual—Part C: Semantic differential items
Extremely bad–extremely good
Not helpful–helpful
Hard to follow–easy to follow
Not detailed enough–too detailed
Too short–too long
Imposing–friendly
Confusing–clear
Not useful–useful
Note.N
=5-pointratingsonpartsAandC,scoresrangedfrom1(
completeagreementwiththedescriptionontheleft
)to5(
complete
agreementwiththedescriptionontheright
).ThepolesforsevB,
scores ranged from 1 (
strongly disagree
) to 5 (
strongly agree
).
Results and Discussion
Table1presentstheresultsofthestudentratingsoftheEx-
tsindicatedthattheas-
signmentswereuseful,nottoomuchwork,andrequiredsome
pressed
agreementthattheassignmentspromotedthedevelopmentof
ghstudentsagreedthattheassignments
improvedtheirknowledgeofstatisticalconcepts,theyrated
theassignmentsmorehighlyintermsofimprovingtheircom-
tfrustrationwiththeassignmentswas
moderate,whichwebelieveisafairlyreasonablelevelgiven
thetypicalfrustrationsassociatedwithanystatisticsassign-
ment,plustheaddedheadachesassociatedwithusinganysoft-
instances,frustrationswerenot
specificallyrelatedtoExcelbutweretiedtogeneralcomputer
issuessuchasgettingaccesstocampuslabsorforgettingtosave
onstotheinstructionmanual
werealsogenerallypositive,tsin-
dicatedtheappropriatenessofboththelengthandcompre-
undthemanualhelpfulfor
completingassignmentsandgenerallyfounditusefulanduser
friendly.
Considerations for Using Excel
to Teach Statistics
DecidingwhethertouseExcelratherthanaspecialized
statisticalpackagenotonlyrequiresacarefulcomparisonof
Vol. 28, No. 4, 2001
thespecificmeritsofeachsoftwarepackage,butalsode-
mandsamethodicalexaminationofstudentneeds,course
anddepartmentgoals,
makessensewhentimeforteachingsoftwareislimitedorac-
cesstospecializedsoftwareislimited,whencoursegoalsin-
cludethedevelopmentofgeneralcomputerskills,whenmost
studentswillenterthejobmarketdirectlyandnotpursue
graduatetraining,orwhenstudentscomefromavarietyof
departmentsthatemphasizedifferentstatisticalpackagesin
ructorconsideringtheadoption
ofExcelshouldalsoconsiderwhetherstudentswouldhave
anopportunitytolearnaspecializedstatisticalpackageinan-
pinion,Exceltrainingshouldnotcon-
stituteastudent’ssoleexposuretocomputerizeddata
ghwemayuseExcelinintroductorystatis-
tics, we use both Excel and SPSS in our methods courses.
Excelsimplycannotsupplantspecializedpackagesfortwo
,thestandardsetofstatisticalproceduresfor
ExcelisquitelimitedcomparedtopackagessuchasSPSS.
Forinstance,ExcelcanperformonlythreeANOVAproce-
dures:(a)one-wayANOVAforindependentsamples,(b)
one-wayrepeated-measuresANOVA,and(c)two-way
’sANOVAproce-
dureswillnotperformplannedcomparisonsorpost-hoctests,
-
ond,thestandardstatisticalproceduresincludedinExcelare
notasrobustasproceduresinspecializedstatisticalpackages
(e.g.,McCullough&Wilson,1999;Sawitzki,1994).Based
onExcel’sperformanceonavarietyofdatasets,McCullough
andWilson,andSawitzki,recommendedthatExcelnotbe
297
used
cel’s
serious
implementation
tedweaknessinEx-
large
errorsonlarge
of
data
several
sets,
algorithms,whichwillleadto
Microsoft
values.
the flaws have been exposed in earlier versions of Excel.
does
McCullough
notcorrect
and
flawed
Wilson
especially
algorithms,
also
those
observed
containing
eventhough
that
cause
BecauseExcelhasalimitedvariety
simplynotagoodchoiceforadvancedcoursesorgeneralscien-
itmayproduceinaccurateresults
of
on
procedures
largedatasets,
and
it
be-
is
tific
courses
tically,though,mostintroductory
in
larger
Excel’s
will
Excel’s
than
Analysis
notcover
thosethat
ToolPak,
manyprocedures
canbecomputed
andsample
beyond
data
those
setswill
included
beno
generally
performanceonsmalldatasets,
conveniently
inourexperience,
byhand.
What
both
Excel
very
does
acceptable
offer
(ough&Wilson,1999).
is
parency,
input
tween
meaning
andoutput,
for
that
which
introductory
students
Henle
can
(1995)
coursesissimplicityof
easilysee
described
therelation
astrans-
be-
those
overcome
numbers.
thenumbersandtheresultsofoperationsperformedon
available
limitations
Also,add-ins
ofbothflexibility
areavailableforExcelthatmay
(/lists/).
add-inscanbefoundatthe
and
ASSUME
accuracy.
Web
Alist
site
of
specialized
RegardlessofwhethertheinstructorchoosesExcelora
and
a
expect
package,
guidance
students
incompleting
expecttrainingonthesoftware
ates,
recentsurveyofover1,000Cornell
computer
University
assignments.
undergradu-
In
the
1999).
most
students
trating
A
effective
rated
smallstudent
means
credit-bearing
focus
ofacquiring
classesandpeersupportas
groupalso
computer
expressed
skills
how
(Davis,
possess
support
certain
andstressfulitiswhenprofessorsassumestudents
frus-
cus
ortraining
software
(Davis,
skills
1999).
yetfailtoprovidestudentswith
to
pense
devote
group
significant
alsoindicated
class
that
time
students
Atthe
toteaching
donot
sametime,thefo-
software
wantprofessors
atthe
sistent
nourexperience,andcon-
ex-
believe
with
&
instructors
thestudent
needsome
viewsexpressedinDavis(1999),we
Warner,
Carey,2000;Dretzke&
sort
Heilman,
ofstudent
1998;
,Berk
ciently, effectively, and with minimal frustration.
2000)tohelpstudentscompleteassignments
Meehan
effi-
&
Conclusions
tary
We
using
statistics.
believethat
and
spreadsheet
Business
Excelisausefultoolforteachingelemen-
applications
schoolshave
ineducating
beenatthe
their
forefrontof
Berenson,
manyresources
Pelosi&Sandifer,
&Stephan,
,
students,
Levine,
1999),
1999;
but
Middleton,
spreadsheet-oriented
2000;Neufeld,
statistics
1998;
298
guides
Berk
,
Warner,
&Carey,2000;Dretzke&Heilman,1998;Meehan&
costs
cialized
and
2000).Individualinstructorswillneedtoweighthe
asExcel,
statistical
benefitsofusingaspreadsheetprogramversusaspe-
willprove
package,
moreattractive
butwebelieve
inmany
aspreadsheet,
situations.
such
References
Berk,K.N.,&
Davis,
Updated for Office 2000.
Carey,P.(2000).
P.(1997).Whatcomputer
Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
DataanalysiswithMicrosoftExcel:
skillsdoemployersexpectfromre-
Davis,
cent graduates?
P.(1999).How
T.H.E. Journal, 24,
undergraduates
74–78.
learncomputer
Dretzke,
of a survey and a focus group.
B.J.,&Heilman,K.A.
T.H.E. Journal, 26,
(1998).Statisticswith
68–71.
skills:Results
MicrosoftEx-
Henle,
Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Levine,
Mathematics Journal, 26,
M.G.(1995).lege
managers
D.M.,
using
Berenson,
Microsoft
M.
320–328.
L.,
Excel.
&Stephan,
Upper
D.
Saddle
(1999).Statistics
River,NJ:
for
McCullough,
Prentice-Hall.
calprocedures
B.D.,
in
&
Microsoft
Wilson,B.
Excel
(1999).
97.
On
Computational
theaccuracy
Statistics
ofstatisti-
Meehan,
Data Analysis, 31,
&
A.M.,&Warner,
27–37.
C.B.(2000).Elementarydataanalysis
Middleton,
ing Microsoft Excel.
us-
M.R.(2000).
New York: McGraw-Hill.
DataanalysisusingMicrosoftExcel(2nd
Neufeld,
ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Olsten
Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
J.L.(1998).LearningbusinessstatisticswithMicrosoftExcel
Pelosi,
workforce.
Corporation.
M.K.,
Melville, NY: Author.
(1996).Managinganddevelopingthenew
&Sandifer,T.M.(1999).Doingstatisticsfor
Sawitzki,
with Excel: Data, inference and decision making.
business
Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, 18,
G.(1994).Reportonthereliabilityofdata
New York: Wiley.
289–301.
analysissystems.
Notes
t
ualwasprovided
fortheinitial
byagrant
development
fromthe
of
Kutztown
anExcel
University
instruction
Profes-
man-
2.
sional Development Committee.
Aversionofthisarticlewaspresentedatthemeetingof
3.
American Psychological Society, Denver, CO, June, 1999.
the
We
also
thankMeganMumma,whostudenttestedour
ymous
thank
reviewers
DavidPittenger,
fortheirhelpful
Randolph
comments
,
on
and
earlier
three
drafts
anon-
4.
this article.
of
Send
chology,
arner,Department
*******************.
KutztownUniversity,Kutztown,PA19530;
of
e-mail:
Psy-
Teaching of Psychology
版权声明:本文标题:微软Excel作为教授基础统计学的工具说明书 内容由热心网友自发贡献,该文观点仅代表作者本人, 转载请联系作者并注明出处:https://www.elefans.com/xitong/1719871526a802808.html, 本站仅提供信息存储空间服务,不拥有所有权,不承担相关法律责任。如发现本站有涉嫌抄袭侵权/违法违规的内容,一经查实,本站将立刻删除。
发表评论