EXCEL and SPSS

Gaurav Singh
R.B.T.T.I., BAREILLY
EXCEL as a statistical tool

►Excel is convenient for data entry,

and for quickly manipulating rows
and columns prior to statistical
analysis.
►Excel is probably the most
commonly used spreadsheet for
PCs.
►Excel is a poor choice for statistical
analysis.
►Most of Excel’s statistical procedures
are part of the Data Analysis tool
pack, which is in the Tools menu.
►It includes: simple descriptive
statistics, t-tests, correlations, 1 or 2-
way analysis of variance, regression,
etc.
►If you do not have a Data Analysis
item on the Tools menu, you need to
install the Data Analysis ToolPak.
►Two other Excel features are useful
for certain analyses:
● Pivot Table in the Data menu can be
used to generate summary tables of
means, standard deviations, counts,
etc.
● Functions to generate some
statistical measures, such as a
correlation coefficient.
Use of EXCEL
► All statistical tests using Excel were done with
the Data Analysis ToolPak.
► In order to check a variety of statistical tests, we
chose the following tasks:
● Get means and standard deviations of X and Y for
the entire group, and for each treatment group.
● Get the correlation between X and Y.
● Do a two sample t-test to test whether the two
treatment groups differ on X and Y.
● Do a paired t-test to test whether X and Y are
statistically different from each other.
● Compare the number of subjects with each
outcome by treatment group, using a chi-squared
test.
General issues
►Enable the Analysis ToolPak
● The Data Analysis ToolPak is not installed
with the standard Excel setup. 
►Missing Values
● A blank cell is the only way for Excel to
deal with missing data.  If you have any
other missing value codes, you will need to
change them to blanks.
►Data Arrangement
● Different analyses require the data to be
arranged in various ways
►Choose Tools/Data Analysis
● select the kind of analysis you want to do. 
The typical dialog box will have the following
items:
 Input Range:  Type the upper left and lower right corner
cells. e.g. A1:B100. 
 Labels: There is sometimes a box you can check off to
indicate that the first row of your sheet contains labels. 
If you have labels in the first row, check this box, and
your output MAY be labeled with your label.
►Output location
● New Sheet is the default.  Or, type in the cell
address of the upper left corner of where you
want to place the output in the current sheet. 
New Worksheet is another option, which I
have not tried.
Normally used analysis
►Descriptive Statistics
● Correlations
● Two sample T test
● Paired t-test
● Crosstabulation and Chi-Squared Test of
Independence
● Simple Frequencies
● Linear Regression
● Analysis of Variance
 One-way ANOVA
 Two-Factor ANOVA Without Replication
 Two-Factor ANOVA with Replicates
Limitation of EXCEL
► Although Excel is a fine spreadsheet, it is not a statistical
data analysis package. you will encounter difficulties due to
any or all of the following limitations:
● Potential problems with analyses involving missing data.
● Lack of flexibility in analyses that can be done due to its
expectations regarding the arrangement of data.
● Output scattered in many different worksheets, or all over
one worksheet, which you must take responsibility for
arranging in a sensible way.
● Output may be incomplete or may not be properly labeled,
increasing possibility of misidentifying output.
● Need to repeat requests for the some analyses multiple
times in order to run it for multiple variables, or to request
multiple options.
● Need to do some things by defining your own
functions/formulae, with its attendant risk of errors.
● No record of what you did to generate your results, making
it difficult to document your analysis, or to repeat it at a
later time, should that be necessary.
Problems in EXCEL
►The problems encountered are in four
general areas:
● Missing values are handled inconsistently,
and sometimes incorrectly.
● Data organization differs according to
analysis, forcing you to reorganize your
data in many ways if you want to do many
different analyses.
● Many analyses can only be done on one
column at a time, making it inconvenient to
do the same analysis on many columns.
● Output is poorly organized, sometimes
inadequately labeled, and there is no record
of how an analysis was accomplished.
Merits and demerits of
EXCEL
► Strengths
● Wide access to Excel
● Good for basic stats applications
● Graphing and displaying data
 Interactive graph
● Easy to use
● Integrated with other MS products
● Good “help” and online support
► Limitations
● Very limited in what it can do for statistics
● Be careful in interpreting results
● Have had problems with errors in algorithms for
some of the tests
● Limited applications in complex test designs
 Excel is a useful package for an
elementary analysis of the data.
However, it is not suitable for an in-
depth treatment. For this SPSS can be
used.
Why to use SPSS
► Able to do sophisticated tests easily and accurately
● Even with large data sets
● Complex analytical problems
► Ease of use
● Help and other support features
► Manipulate data
● Create new variables
● Recode
► Manage data files
● Merge data or files
► Display data
● Tables
● Graphs
► Ability to accurately perform the test
● Right tool for right test
► Accurately read and interpret results
How to use SPSS

►Switch on the computer and wait

until you observe the desk-top.
► Click on Start, Programs, SPSS
for Windows.
►Click on Type in data
►Click OK
►(You can save files using Save As
in the usual way)
►SPSS has two screens. The first is the data
Editor screen where data is placed. A
second screen is the output screen called
the SPSS viewer. You can cut and paste
materials from this screen into Word for
report purposes.
►You can enter data manually (i.e. by typing it
in). Usually, experimenters record and save
data as text files or in spreadsheets for ease
of analysis. SPSS will read such files.
Use of SPSS
►Mean, Median, Mode, Variation,
Standard Deviation
►Normal Distribution
►T-test
● Comparison among two variables
 Compare mean differences
● Family of tests – depending on research
design
 Paired samples (repeated measures)
 Independent samples
 One-sample
►Regression: types of regression
analysis
● Curve estimation
● Binary logistic
● Multinomial logistic
● And others
Merits and Demerits of SPSS
► Strengths
● Very robust statistical software
● Many complex statistical tests available
● Good “stats coach” help with interpreting results
● Easily and quickly displays data tables
● Can be expanded
 Using the syntax feature
 Purchasing add-ins
► Limitations
● Can be expensive
● Not intuitive to use
 Typically requires additional training to maximize
features (at a cost)
● Graphing feature not as simple as Excel
What works…what works better:
Excel or SPSS
►T-test
● Options in Excel
􀀁 Paired Two-Sample for Means
􀀁 Two-Sample Assuming Equal Variances
􀀁 Two-Sample Assuming Unequal Variances
● Options in SPSS
􀀁 One-sample t-test
􀀁 Independent samples t-test
􀀁 Paired samples t-test
►Excel has basic assumptions in
calculations
►that are not correct
􀀁 SPSS tests are correct
􀀁 Descriptive statistics – same
results
􀀁 More complex statistics – different
results
Regression

►Excel does only simple linear

regression and multiple linear
regression using Enter method.
►Results from Excel and SPSS
(Enter) are the same
►SPSS allows for other methods
►SPSS can do other types of
regression analysis
 Comparison of EXCEL and
SPSS
Excel SPSS
How to get data into enter manually, cut & enter manually, cut & paste
table paste from table, native from table, native file
file format format, read Excel 4
worksheet
Selected statistics Count, average (mean & same and more
median), sum (inter.)   (batch)

Selected charts bar, x-y, pie, etc. (inter.) bar, x-y, pie, etc. (batch)

Selected advantages interactive easy recodes,

Sophisticated, missing data
features, cross tabs, self-
documenting
Sample data files oakland.xls, oakland 0298.sav, .spo,
(and output files for US colleges.xls .htm
SPSS) United States colleges.sav
World95.sav
Which to use?
► Excel can do simple, basic descriptive statistics
quickly and easily
► Excel’s graphing features are typically easier
and they are interactive
● SPSS v16 have made improvements on graphing
features
► SPSS is the better choice for most inferential
statistics
● All tests are mathematically correct and meet
assumptions of test
● Output is typically easier to read and interpret
● More robust research designs
● Excellent results coach