Doctoral Candidate University of Minnesota St. Paul, Minnesota, United States
Abstract Information: We know two things: A report is only as good as the data you feed it, and organized data makes our work easier. However, spreadsheets can be both tedious and overwhelming - unless you know how to make them work for you! This workshop will help you improve your Excel skills as you walk through an exercise using real data. Using data management principles, you will learn about planning your spreadsheet layout based on what you actually want to know, how to use basic formulas and formatting to make data cleaning (and life) easier, and get a brief introduction to pivot tables and Excel's visualizations. Excel truly provides a host of ways to manage your data and this workshop can be your springboard to putting this tool to effective use!
Relevance Statement: It is easy to take for granted that a spreadsheet is simply a place for storing your data and that anyone can do that without thought or training. However, a deeper understanding of data management practices makes your spreadsheet a far more effective tool. With some forethought, the design of your spreadsheet will better suit your needs, putting the data you need in the place you need it. A basic understanding of formulas and formatting can easily clean your data and create tables, visualizations, and descriptive statistics for your reports. Not everyone has been taught this, and for many of us it doesn't come intuitively. But learning how to think in terms of data management (i.e., what we collect and how we store it) and learning very basic tips and tricks can shave time and aggravation from the data portion of your project. Furthermore, knowing how to do this work yourself means you no longer need to pay someone else to do it!
