Creating and Verifying Data Sets with Excel

Book excerpt: Accurate data entry and analysis can be deceptively labor-intensive and time-consuming. Creating and Verifying Data Sets with Excel is a focused, easy-to-read guide that gives readers the wherewithal to make use of a remarkable set of data tools tucked within Excel—tools most researchers are entirely unaware of. Robert E. McGrath’s book is the first to focus exclusively on Excel as a data entry system. It incorporates a number of learning tools such as screenshots, text boxes that summarize key points, examples from across the social sciences, tips for creating professional-looking tables, and questions at the end of each chapter. Providing practical strategies to improve and ease the processes of data entry, creation and analysis, this step-by-step guide is a brief, but invaluable resource for both students and researchers. "I have been messing around with data for over 40 years, and I still learned useful techniques and tricks from this book. It will be invaluable for everyone doing data analysis, from novices to experts. I highly recommend it." —David L. Streiner, McMaster University “Excel has become a standard tool in the modern workplace. This well-written and accessible book covers foundational Excel data skills that are rarely taught directly in quantitative methods classes, but are essential for anyone who aspires to succeed in a data-driven environment.” —Kurt Taylor Gaubatz, Old Dominion University