Week 1. Exploratory analysis using Microsoft Excel

The first few labs will make use of Salary Survey data from the Library Association to learn basic statistical analysis. In the first lab, students make use of MS Excel to explore bivariate relations — between annual income (target variable) and independent variables such as age, years in the profession, type of library, type of job roles, qualification, etc. The Pivot Table function is used for exploratory data analysis. This is similar to cross tabulation, and can be seen as a simple form of OLAP (Online Analytical Processing). Students also learn about preparing data for analysis.