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Keywords: Statistics, data analysis, Excel Title: Statistical Analysis : Microsoft Excel 2016 Author: Conrad Carlberg Publisher: Que ISBN: 978-0789759054 Media: Book Level: Introductory/intermediate statistics Verdict: An essential resource for anyone doing statistical analysis in Excel

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Yes, you read that correctly, 'Statistical Analysis ? Microsoft Excel 2016'. There are of course many who?ll tell you that Excel is actually the worst possible tool for statistical analysis. They?ll get all sniffy and tell you that you need a proper stats package, R for example. But then again I know some statisticians who?ll look at R and shake their heads and tell you that?s what?s needed is Stata or some other professional package… In any case, this is a book which aims to show the read how to get the best out of Excel when it comes to statistical analysis.

The starting point for the book is developing an understanding how Excel handles variables — it's at the core of getting the best out of Excel when it comes to analysis. By starting here rather than, say, showing how to generate descriptive stats or basic charting the author sets the scene. In fact throughout the book there?s a great deal of attention paid to helping the reader develop an understanding of the statistical procedures being explored and the various idiosyncrasies which have given Excel such a bad reputation when it comes to serious data analysis.

While this isn't a statistics text book as such, the author does a really good job of explaining statistical concepts, much better in fact than in some text books. Topics, including correlation, tests of significance, ANOVA, power calculations and multiple regression, are explored in a step by step approach. The problem you are trying to address is clearly set out and data sets developed and used to good effect. This isn't simply a repeat of the Help file, the rationale for different procedures are clearly explained. In many cases there are different ways of achieving the same results, and the author makes sure to explain the pros and cons for these different approaches. And, most useful of all, the author makes sure to explain those areas where Excel would be considered non-standard.

Overall this is a really useful book to have around. It sits head and shoulders above most books on Excel and data analysis. It?s an absolute must for anyone serious about using Excel to perform statistical analyses.