Descriptive Statistics Analysis using Excel

Facilitator:Dr Melody Mentz-Coetzee is an experienced evaluator and researcher with a strong background in quantitative, and mixed-methods research. Dr Mentz-Coetzee has facilitated numerous workshops and seminars for students, academics, and interdisciplinary audiences. Through her workshops Dr Mentz-Coetzee translates complex methodological concepts into accessible and practical skills, empowering learners to apply their skills to real-world problems. She previously lectured on research methodology and advanced data analysis to both undergraduate and postgraduate psychology students for eight years, working with large datasets in social science research. She has expert-level skills in online survey design and has extensive experience in quantitative and mixed-methods analysis. Additionally, Dr Mentz-Coetzee co-authored several chapters in the book Practical Social Research (2012), including those on survey research, measurement, descriptive and inferential statistics, and research project planning, contributing to the development of research methodology in the social sciences. In collaboration with the African Women in Agriculture for Research and Development (AWARD) her work on integrated mixed-methods analysis was published in Agrigender, showcasing innovative approaches to triangulating qualitative and quantitative data.

 

Target Group: Postgraduate students, Postdoctoral fellows and Staff

 

Objective: Understand and apply descriptive statistical techniques using Excel.

 

Topics Covered:

  • Introduction and overview of descriptive statistics: Differentiate between descriptive and inferential statistics, understand key concepts and have an overview of how descriptive statistics are used in business, research, and decision-making.
  • Data Preparation: Importing data from CSV, Excel, or external sources. Cleaning and organizing datasets (handling missing values, duplicates, etc.).
  • Data manipulation: Sorting, filtering, and using features like Freeze Panes or formatting cells for better readability. Avoiding common pitfalls in Excel.
  • Built-in Functions: Learn how to generate descriptive statistics using Excel’s built-in functions.
  • Interpretation: Guidance on how to draw insights from descriptive statistics
  • Creating frequency tables: using Excel built in functions.
  • Charts and Graphs: Learn to create and interpret histograms, bar charts, and scatter plots to complement the numerical analysis.
  • Introduction to Pivot Tables: Summarizing data dynamically.
  • Exploring Conditional Formatting: Highlighting key statistics in datasets.
  • Using the data analysis toolpack

 

Requirements: Understand and apply descriptive statistical techniques using Excel.

 

This workshop is funded by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) through the University Capacity Development Grant (UCDG)

 

Related Information

Date:

  • 24-27 June 2025

Time:

  • 09h00-16h00

Venue:

  • In person attendance only. Venue to be confirmed

Registration:

  • Registration has not opened. 


Please note: The maximum capacity of this workshop is 15 participants.

 

Enquiries: