Analyzing and Visualizing Data

Introduction:

Going beyond the basic representation of data in Excel worksheets, you will explore charts. Charts unlock the potential for visualizing data and can be nested (in a worksheet) or on their own sheet tab (Chart sheet). This week also introduces new functions and creating formulas to calculate percentages. Lastly, this week you will explore even more ways to format and prepare your workbooks for printing.

Nested charts reside within the worksheet they are created in. This is the natural occurrence when charts are created in Excel. You can easily move charts to their own Chart sheet, which creates a new worksheet tab specifically designed for charts. The AVERAGE function, which returns the average of all the data selected, along with the MIN and MAX functions will be explored. The MIN and MAX functions provide the lowest and highest results within the selected data. All three of these functions allow you to easily see the base, ceiling, and middle of a set of data.

Course Competencies:

1. Understand and describe what Excel is and how it is used to work with quantitative data
2. Design, construct, format, and edit workbooks and worksheets for professional use
3. Create and apply formulas and functions to calculate data using appropriate mathematical principles
4. Construct and design charts and tables to effectively visualize and manipulate data
5. Identify and assess the suitable printing and presentation of workbooks and worksheets
6. Utilize data analysis in determining the best possible outcomes of business-related decisions

Learning Objectives:

Each Outcome shows in parenthesis which Course Competency it aligns with.

1. Duplicate formatting used in previous weeks in the creation of a worksheet (2)
2. Illustrate the movement of worksheet placement in a workbook (2)
3. Demonstrate the application of copying and pasting functions while keeping the formatting of cells intact (2)
4. Employ the MAX and MIN functions to calculate the lowest and highest datum in a data set (3)
5. Apply the AVERAGE function to find the average of a data set (3)
6. Create a formula to calculate a percentage (3)
7. Demonstrate understanding of the use of the SUM function in carrying out the calculation of totals (3)
8. Execute the creation of a Column Chart and a Pie Chart and creation of a Chart Sheet (4)
9. Modify charts elements and styles to improve visual presentation (4)
10. Understand the application of header and footer elements and print preparation using the Page Layout view and Page Setup menu in Backstage view (5)
11. Review the printing of Chart Sheets using the Print Preview in Backstage view (5)

To-Do List:

1. Week 3 KnowledgePath
2. Week 3 Learning Materials
3. Week 3 Discussion
4. Course Lab Project – Exercise 3

Sources:

Image attribution: Adapted from How to Use Microsoft Excel: The Careers in Practice Series, adapted by The Saylor Foundation without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee, and licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.