Produce appropriate statistical summaries, charts and tables with our new course:Basic Business Statistics using Excel (online)

Course provided by: Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Strathclyde

 

Testimonial: “This course has been delivered to our staff on a regular basis for two years. Through our evaluation process we consistently receive positive and excellent feedback on the quality and delivery of the course, and continually have a waiting list for places. We would most definitely recommend this course to others. (Janet Milne, Development Adviser, Organisational and Staff Development Unit, University of Strathclyde).”

Current planned courses:

Each course runs for one week, Monday to Sunday. You can access materials online when convenient for you during that week. Interactive sessions will also be scheduled (during weekdays). The total amount of study time you will need to complete the course is up to eight hours.

Participants will be able to download the presentations (pdf) as well as the practice data set (Excel). A certrificate will be issued to all those completing the course.

Fees

Individual bookings:

  • standard fee: £125 (including VAT)
  • early bird fee (booked at least one month in advance): £95

Corporate private sessions:

Booking, payment and cancellations

Bookings and payments can be made online, via the above links, up to and including two working days before the course start date.

Cancellations providing at least 2 working days notice will be refunded in full. Later cancellations will be refunded at 50%. 

Places can be transferred to alternate individuals without charge. 

Cancellation of course by organiser

Courses may be cancelled if fewer than 5 participants have enrolled 10 working days before the start date, or due to unforeseen circumstances (e.g. illness of presenter). Fees are then fully refundable or transferable to another date.  

Class sizes

We aim to have a minimum of 6 participants and maximum of 30. These are necessary to ensure quality of the interactive sessions scheduled during the course.  

 

This course is designed for anyone who needs to produce basic summary statistics, charts and tables from data, and present them in reports. It is suitable for all job categories and levels. 

By the end of the course, participants should:

  • understand essential concepts in summary statistics and options for displaying data and relationships between variables
  • gain confidence in interpreting and presenting summary statistics, charts and tables typically found in business reports and publications
  • practice using Excel to produce summary statistics, tables and charts, including using pivot tables where needed

Topics covered include:

  • data types, variables and variable combinations
  • chosing and using a variety of different graphs and charts, including for displaying relationships between two or more variables
  • chosing and using different summary measures of location (averages) and spread (variability) for numeric data
  • options for tabulating frequencies of non-numeric data, including cross tabulations for two variables (pivot tables)
  • awareness of more advance statistical concepts

You do not need any prior statistical knowledge.

You should have had exposure to business reports presenting basic statistical information.

You should be able to use Microsoft Excel. This should include basic operations such as in-cell editing, moving columns and sorting with filters (though filtering is explained in the course). Although some experience of using in-cell formulas and creating and customising simple charts would be an advantage, these are fully explained and demonstrated during the course as needed. Similarly, although experience of pivot tables would be beneficial, the course explains and demonstrates this as needed.

This course is online and materials are available over a period of one week (Monday to Sunday). Students can expect to engage with the class for about eight hours during that time.

The course is delivered through video presentations, video demonstrations and class exercises using a practice data set, all available through the University course delivery platform. Additionally, two tutorial sessions are also scheduled during the week (on weekdays) for participants to discuss course materials and exercises and to seek help. Participants will be able to download the powerpoint presentations (as a .pdf file) as well as the practice data set. A certrificate of completion will be issued for those completing the course.

You will need the following IT.

  • A device with access to the internet which is able to play back video with good image quality and sound.
  • Access to a version of MS Excel that can produce Histograms. To check this, using the device you will use during the course: access or create an Excel file, save it as file type ‘Excel Workbook’, highlight a column of numbers (create a few numbers if necessary), go to menus Insert > Recommended Charts > All Charts, and check that the ‘Histogram’ option is available.