Data Analysis Guide

Data Summary : Mean, Standard Deviation, Standard Error

‘Conventional’ Microsoft Excel functions can be used to summarize a quantitative data set, i.e.
calculate mean, standard deviation, and standard errors.

1. Mean = Average
2. Standard Deviation = A quantity that expresses how much all
measurements differ from the mean of a sample
3. Standard Error = A quantity that expresses the statistical accuracy of an
estimate, such as the mean of a sample.
Data Summary statistics can be generated using the DATA ANALYSIS TOOLPAK
Calculating Outliers using Excel
Breaking Strength of Tools (N)
1345 FALSE 1st Quartile 1301
1301 FALSE 3rd Quartile 1368
1368 FALSE IQR 67
1322 FALSE
1368 FALSE Upper Boundary 1468.5
1333 FALSE Lower Boundary 1200.5
1380 FALSE
1290 FALSE
1530 TRUE
1341 FALSE
1140 TRUE
1. Calculate the 1st Quartile of your data using the following formula:
= QUARTILE.EXC(A3:A13,1) where A3:A13 is the range of values and 1, represents Quartile 1

2. Calculate the 3rd Quartile:

= QUARTILE.EXC(A3:A13,3) where 3 represents Quartile 3

3. Calculate your Interquartile Range (IQR) which is simply Q3 – Q1.

4. Your upper boundary of the data is calculated by the following formula:
Q3 + (IQR x 1.5)

5. Your lower boundary is calculated using:

Q1 – (IQR x 1.5)

6. Once you have your boundaries – any data that is outside of this range is considered
an outlier.
7. If you have a lot of data, Excel can determine these for you by doing a OR statement.
= OR(A3<$D$8,A3>$D$7)
This formula will check if A3 is less than your Lower Boundary (D8) OR greater than your Upper
Boundary (D7). Adding the dollar signs in between simply allows you to drag the formula down your
column, without it changing where to look for the Upper and Lower Boundary values. As you can
see, the data for 1530 and 1140 says (True) which means it sits outside the boundaries specified and
therefore is considered an outlier.

Calculating Percentage Change

Percent increase and percent decrease are measures of percent change, which is the extent to which
a variable gains or loses intensity, magnitude, extent, or value. The figures are arrived at by
comparing the initial (or before) and final (or after) quantities according to a specific formula. This
calculation is particularly useful.

For example, when your initial mass is not quite equal (as seen below) it is hard to make
comparisons as to which increased the most. In the first two potatoes, they both have the same
increase in mass, however, you can see that the percentage change is different. The third potato,
whilst it might seem to have the smallest difference in mass, it has by far, the largest percentage
change. To calculate the percentage change, use the following formula:

New amount−Original amount

Percentage Increase= × 100
Original amount
Assume now, that each of these was an individual trial at the same concentration. You could then
calculate an average percentage change by adding all the percentages and dividing by the number of
trials.
Initial Mass of Potato (g) Final Mass of Potato (g) Difference in Mass (g) % Difference in Mass
1.6 2.4 0.8 50%
1.7 2.5 0.8 47.06%
0.98 1.9 0.92 93.88%
Average % Change 63.64%

Presenting data as a Bar Graph with error bars (standard error)