How to set up an analysis

Selecting your analysis

The first thing you have to do is to open the dialog box of the analysis/function you wish to use.

The analyses are grouped by type:

• Preparing data

• Describing data

• Visualizing data

• Analyzing data

• Modeling data

• Correlation/Association tests

• Parametric tests

• Nonparametric tests

• ...

Once the dialog box is open you need to select the data to be analyzed. This is done in the first tab named General.

Setting up the general tab

Depending on the type of analysis you may need to do one or several selections. Note that the expected type of variable is defined to either qualitative, or quantitative to make it easier for your use.

To select the data you need, click on the range selector - you can click anywhere in the blue rectangle.

The selection is done by holding down the mouse button while moving the cursor over the data you want to select. You can select either columns or ranges. Note that it is possible to take non-adjacent data.

Moreover it is possible to minimize the range selector box while electing the data so as to have a better view of the data.

In the screenshot below the data that is selected are picked as range as they are not place in the first row. The data are non-adjacent, only the data in the column B, C and E are selected.

Other information in the General tab may be filled in before moving on to the other tabs.

You may need to specify if the variable(s)/sample(s) in the selection have labels - as shown in the example above. In this case simply tick the option Variable labels.

If you do not, you may get an error when proceeding to the calculations if the values are non numerical.

You can also define the observations/units/cases labels; tick the Observation labels option and click on the range selector to select them.

The last thing to do in the General tab is to decide where the results should be displayed. You have three possibilities:

• At a specific place in a spreadsheet, option Range. Here you have to use the range selector to specify the location,

• In a new sheet, option Sheet,

• In a new workbook, option Workbook.

Setting up the other tabs

Then you should go through the other tabs and select the desired options. Pay special attention to the tabs Outputs and Charts, as they are used to select which results should be displayed.

Help documentation

Do not hesitate to click the Help button to get information about the different options. Once you have pressed Help, the documentation will open in the chapter of the analysis you were running. Go to the Dialog box section, where all the available options are explained.

Launching the analysis

To proceed to the calculations click the OK button.

After clicking OK a summary will appear. If you realize you need to modify your settings you can go back to the dialog box by clicking on the Back button.

The following video explains how to set up an analysis in XLSTAT.