Chapter One: Introduction to Softwares

1. Introduction

Currently the question of people in the world is the problems arising in the daily lives due to the
dynamic nature of the world. To answer these questions, the collection, organization, analysis
and interpretation of data is critical. Data are the information that you collect to learn, draw
conclusions, and test hypotheses. This data can be collected and stored in numerous ways,
depending on the type of data, source & context, study design, data volume & turnaround time
and data security.

The field of economic statistics and econometrics is rapidly changing. Increasing data
availability combined with powerful computing and advanced software allows research to
address issues of statistical inference and analysis in innovative ways. Statistical skills enable
you to intelligently collect, analyze and interpret data relevant to their decision-making.
Statistical concepts enable us to solve problems in a diversity of contexts. Statistical thinking
enables you to add substance to your decisions. We will apply the basic concepts and methods of
statistics you've already learned in the previous statistics and econometrics course to the real
world problems. This course is tailored to meet your needs in your research data collection using
electronic data collection systems such as Excel, Epi info, Epi data and data analysis using
widely available statistical computer packages such as STATA, SPSS, R, EViews and SAS. This
chapter will mainly give an introduction on Excel for data collection and STATA and SPSS for
data analysis. The steps of data analysis in software can be depicted as follows.
  Some of the software packages for analysis and collection of data are depicted below

2. Introduction to Stata

Stata is a general-purpose statistical software package created in 1985 that uses a graphical
interface to manage, analyze, and graph data. Stata is a statistical analysis package, used for
exploring, graphing, summarizing and manipulating data files. The word Stata is a combination
of the words `statistics' and `data.' Stata is not an acronym and should not appear will all letters
capitalized. Stata is an integrated statistical analysis packaged designed for research
professionals and handling and manipulating large data sets. It is a multi-purpose statistical
package to help you explore, summarize and analyze datasets. A dataset is a collection of several
pieces of information called variables (usually arranged by columns). A variable can have one or
several values (information for one or several cases). It has ever-growing capabilities for
handling panel and time-series regression analysis. Stata utilizes command line interface so users
can type commands to perform specific tasks. Users can also run commands in batch using a do-
le. In addition, Stata has menus and dialog boxes that give the user access to nearly all built-in
commands. User-written commands can be added to Stata using ado- les. Stata is case-sensitive;
thus, it distinguishes between lower and upper case letters. Most Stata built-in commands are
lower case, a convention most programmers follow. There are commands built into Stata that
allow the user to do statistical analysis such as cross-tabulation and regression on data sets. It is a
multi-purpose statistical package to help you explore, summarize and analyze datasets.

Types of Stata packages

There are four types of Stata packages; these are Stata MP (multi-processor) which is the most
powerful, Stata SE (special edition), Intercooled Stata, and Small Stata. Note: The main
difference between these versions is maximum number of variables, repressors, and observations
that can be handled.

Most features are shared by the other flavors of Stata.The version differ in basically in terms of

 The number of variables handle

 The speed of processed.

Main Stata interface

Looking at Stata, you'll see four principle window/ boxes: Results, Command, Variables, and
Re- view. Results window displays your input and output, which includes output procedures. If a
command generates lengthy output that one does not want to display, the user can type quietly in
front of that command. Command window is where the user enters a command. To run a
command, press enter. Stata understands most abbreviations for commands and variable names,
as long as the abbreviation is unique. For example, the user can abbreviate the command regress
to reg. However, imagine two variables named perseat and percabinet. Stata would be unable to
distinguish between the two variables if the abbreviation per was used. Further, the user could
call both variables using an asterisk, per*. Variables window displays the variables listed in the
data set. This will be blank when there is no data in Stata's memory. The user can click on
variables to include them on the command line. Review window records all previously entered
commands. The user can click on any past command to include it on the command line. Or, the
user can page-up or page-down to access past commands in the command box (Figure 1).

History Variables
Results

Command line interface

Figure 1: Main Stata interface

Each of the Stata windows can be resized and moved around in the usual way. To bring a
window forward that may be obscured by other windows, make the appropriate selection in the
Window menu.

Buttons

The most important button functions are the following:

 Open (use): Opens a new data file.

 Save: Saves the current data file.
 Print results: Prints the content of the results window.
  New Viewer: Opens a new viewer window, e.g. to open log-files.
 New Do-file Editor: Opens a new instance of the do-file editor (same as doedit).
 Data Editor: Opens the data editor window (same as edit).
 Data Browser: Opens the data browser (same as browse).
 Break: Allows canceling currently running calculations.
Ways to use Stata

 Point & click

 Command line interface

 Batch file (called a “do-file”)

Stata has a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that allows almost all commands to be accessed via
point-and-click. Simply start by clicking into the Data, Graphics, or Statistics menus, make
the relevant selections, fill in a dialog box, and click OK. Stata then behaves exactly as if the
corresponding command had been typed with the command appearing in the Stata Results and
Review windows and being accessible via PgUp and PgDn.

Datasets

Stata datasets have the .dta extension and can be loaded into Stata in the usual way through the
File menu

Data is a set of numbers and/or text describing specific phenomena. Mortality, drug
effectiveness, economy, weather, traffic, pollution levels, etc.

 Data sets are always rectangular:

 columns contain “variables”

 rows contain “observations”

Stata file types

 Stata uses and creates many types of files, which are distinguished by extensions at the end
of the filename. The extensions used by Stata are

 .ado Programs that add commands to Stata, such as the SPost commands.
  .do Batch files that execute a set of Stata commands.

 .dta Data files in Stata‟s format.

 .gph Graphs saved in Stata‟s proprietary format.

 .hlp The text displayed when you use the help command. For example, fitstat.hlp has
help for fitstat.

 .log Output saved as plain text by the log using command.

 .smcl Output saved in the SMCL format by the log using command.

 .wmf Graphs saved as Windows Metafiles.

Loading data into Stata

The dataset may be viewed as a spreadsheet by opening the Data Browser with the button and
edited by clicking to open the Data Editor

 Stata command:

 use file path/file name.dta, cleare.g. use "C:\Users\Malede\Desktop\data.dta", clear

 A command is typed in the Stata Command window and executed by pressing the Return (or
Enter) key.

 Working directory: using data, saving data, or logging output.

 type cd in the Command Window and to change use: cd "C:\Users\Malede\Desktop"

Do-files

The crucial advantage of using the command line instead of point-and-click menus is that it
allows for the replication of results. However, all typed commands are lost once Stata is closed
(unless you manually start a command log). This can be avoided by using socalled “do-files”
where Stata commands are saved as a script in a simple text file with the ending “.do”. When the
do-file is run using the do-file editor all commands are executed subsequently. If all steps of a
project have been documented in one or more do-files, all analyses and results can be reproduced
and the whole process can be retraced by third party people. However, saving all commands for a
(bigger) project in a single do-file should be avoided. Rather, it is recommended to split up
commands in several do-files named according to the respective step in the process (e.g., data
import, data management, data analysis).

 It is build up for containing the commands necessary to carry out a particular data
analysis

Double click
Editor window

 A subset of commands can be highlighted and executed by clicking into. The do-file can
be saved for use in a future Stata

Log files

Log allows you to make a full record of your Stata session. A log is a file containing what you

type and Stata's output.At the beginning of a Stata session, Press the button , type
a filename into the dialog box, and choose Save.By default, this produces a SMCL (Stata
Markup and Control Language, pronounced „smicle‟) file with extension .smcl, but an ordinary
ASCII text file can be produced by selecting the .log extension.
Log files can also be opened, viewed, and closed by selecting Log from the File menu, followed
by Begin..., View..., or Close.
 log using mylog, replace
 log using mylog2, name(mylog2)
 . log using firstfile, name(log1) text
 . log using secondfile, name(log2) smcl
 log close
Getting help
  Select Stata Command

Keywords search and press OK fromFrequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are available
 search keywords
 help Keywords
Data input and output

Stata has its own data format with default extension .dta. Reading and saving a Stata file are
straightforward.

 use “file path/file name”

 save “file path/file name”

There are essentially two kinds of variables in Stata: string and numeric.The storage types are
byte, int, long, float, and double for numeric variables and str1 to str80 for string variables of
different lengths.Besides the storage type, variables have associated with them a name, a label,
and a format.Data in other formats can convert it into Stata‟s format using Stat/Transfer. Data
can also be entered by hand using a spreadsheet-style editor.

Entering Data

 Insheet: Read ASCII (text) data created by a spreadsheet (.csv files only)
 Infile: Read unformatted ASCII (text) data (space delimited files)
  Input: Enter data from keyboard
 Describe: Describe contents of data in memory or on disk
 Compress: Compress data in memory
 Save: Store the dataset currently in memory on disk in Stata data format
 Count: Show the number of observations
 List: List values of variables
 Clear: Clear the entire dataset and everything else
 Memory: Display a report on memory usage
 Set memory: Set the size of memory

Exploring data
 Describe: Describe a dataset
 List List the contents of a dataset
 Codebook: Detailed contents of a dataset
 Log: Create a log file
 Summarize: Descriptive statistics
 Tabstat: Table of descriptive statistics
 Table: Create a table of statistics
 Stem: Stem-and-leaf plot
 Graph: High resolution graphs
 Kdensity: Kernal density plot
 Sort: Sort observations in a dataset
 Histogram: Histogram for continuous and categorical variables
 Tabulate: One- and two-way frequency tables
 Correlate: Correlations
 Pwcorr: Pairwise correlations
 Type: Display an ASCII file

Modifying Data

 label data: Apply a label to a data set

 Order: Order the variables in a data set
 label variable: Apply a label to a variable
  label define: Define a set of a labels for the levels of a categorical variable
 label values: Apply value labels to a variable
 List: Lists the observations
 Rename: Rename a variable
 Recode: Recode the values of a variable
 Notes: Apply notes to the data file
 Generate: Creates a new variable
 Replace: Replaces one value with another value
 Egen: Extended generate - has special functions that can be used when creating a new
variable
Managing Data
 Pwd: Show current directory (pwd=print working directory)
 dir or ls: Show files in current directory
 cd Change directory
 keep if: Keep observations if condition is met
 Keep: Keep variables (dropping others)
 Drop: Drop variables (keeping others)
 append using: Append a data file to current file
 Merge: Merge a data file with current file

Analyzing Data

 Ttest: t-test

 Regress: Regression

 Predict: Predicts after model estimation

 Kdensity: Kernel density estimates and graphs

 Pnorm: Graphs a standardized normal plot

 Qnorm: Graphs a quantile plot

 Rvfplot: Graphs a residual versus fitted plot

 Rvpplot: Graphs a residual versus individual predictor plot

  Xi: Creates dummy variables during model estimation

 Test: Test linear hypotheses after model estimation

 Oneway: One-way analysis of variance

 Anova: Analysis of variance

 Logistic: Logistic regression

 Logit: Logistic regression

Must-Know Commands
 System
 clear
 exit
 log
 set
 # delimit
 net  Data Analysis
 search  summarize
 help  correlate
 graph
 Data Management  two way, scatter,…
 Use  hist
 sysuse
 Infile, infix  Statistical Analysis
 list  regress
 describe  predict
 keep, drop  test
 generate, replace, rename  dwstat
 save, out file  hettest

Comments and Notes

 Stata treats lines that begin with an asterisk * or are located between a pair of /* and */ as
comments that are simply echoed to the output
 If a command continues over two lines, we use /* at the end of the first line and */ at the
beginning of the second line to make Stata ignore the line break.
 An alternative would be to use /// at the end of the line.
 Variable names are case-sensitive.

Missing value

 A missing values in a numeric variable is represented by a period „.‟ (system missing values),
or by a period followed by a letter, such as .a,.b. etc.
 Missing values are interpreted as very large positive numbers with . < .a < .b, etc.
 Note that this can lead to mistakes in logical expressions.
 Numerical missing value codes (such as „−99’) may be converted to missing values (and vice
versa) using the command mvdecode.
o mvdecode x, mv(-99)

3. Overview of SPSS

Statistical package for social science (SPSS) is a windows based program that can be used to
perform data entry and analysis. It has evolved a lot since then and is now widely used in many
areas. It is a straight forward package with a friendly environment. There is a lot of easy to
access documentation and the tutorials are very good. However, unlike some other statistical
packages, SPSS does not hold your hand all the way through your analysis. You have to make
your own decisions and for that you need to have a basic knowledge of statistics. The down side
of this is that you can make mistakes but the up side is that you actually understand what you are
doing. You are not just answering questions by clicking on window after window, you are doing
your analysis for real, which means that you understand the analytical process but also when it
comes to writing down your results, you will know exactly what to say. SPSS is updated often.
This document was written on version 20, but the differences would not cause any problems. It
performs a wide range of statistical analysis ranging from data management to advanced
modeling. It is also possible to use SPSS for data entry though there are limitations. In order to
perform all the activities by the software, you should install first.
Windows in SPSS
1. DATA EDITOR

SPSS data files are organized by cases (rows) and variables (columns). The Data Editor displays
the contents of the active data file. The information in the Data Editor consists of variables and
cases. The employee data is located under the directory C:\program files: \ SPSSEVAL. If we
open this data set, the data editor window looks like the following.

Data view Variable view

 In Data View, columns represent variables and rows represent cases (observations).
 In Variable View, each row is a variable, and each column is an attribute associated with
that variable
A. Data view

Here you simply observe

 Names of variables
 The values of the variables

 We are able to edit directly the values of variables

 Data can be entered when SPSS is in data view
 Rows and Column
 Rows are horizontally recorded values of different variables of a single study subject
 Column is vertically recorded single variable of many study subjects

Column
A single Variable‟s value
Across all study subjects

Rows
(Single study subjects
information)

Displaying values
 You can display the values of your categorical variables
 as the numeric codes entered (eg 1‟s and 2‟s for gender), or
 to view the value labels which you have defined in variable view (eg male and
female; see 1.3)
 To view on the menu-bar, and choose value labels.
 Use the luggage label button on the toolbar
Luggage label button
 B. Variable view

Here you simply observe

 It is important to create new
variables in SPSS
 It is by writing name of
variable,
type of variable, its label and its
value

Here you simply observe

1. Names of variables

2. Type of variables

3. Width/ Decimals

4. Label of the variables

5. Labels of values of variable

Name of variables
 Name of variables are usually codes
 They contain continuous alphabets without interruption (no space in between alphabets)
 Example

Age group vs age group

education vs educationalstatus

educational status
2. Type of variables
• There are different types of variables
• It is displayed when clicked upper right corner of type
column
1. Numeric for countable (quantitative) only accepting
numerical (coding of qualitative variables is possible)

2. Date characteristics it can use different styles of dates

3. String for qualitative data usually if we interested on

words

3. Width/ Decimals
 The width and decimal are used to allow number of characteristic of a value of a single
variable
 If numeric type of variable, it will ask to choose number of widths and decimals (as a
default the width comes 8 and decimals of 2)
 If date type of variable, it may ask you to choose number of characteristics of the type of
date
 If a qualitative data with words, it will ask you to choose number of characteristics you
wanted to add

Decimals
 Number of decimals
 It has to be less than or equal to 16
 If it is date or string variable, it will not
3.14159265…
ask you decimals
4. Label of the variables
 Label of a variable is detailed description of the variable name

 You can specify the details of the variable

 You can write characters with spaces up to 256 characters

5. Labels of values of variable

 This is description of values of variables of qualitative variables coded as quantitative
(categorical)

 It is for variables whose values are nominated

 Eg. „Sex‟ the value can be 1. Male, 2. female

 „Residence‟ = = = = = 1. Urban, 2. rural ….etc

 For continuous variables, no value is needed coding
 Defining the value labels
 Click the cell in the values column as shown below
 For the value, and the label, you can put up to 60 characters.
 After defining the values click add and then click OK.

Labeling value

 Write the value first

 Write its meaning

 Click add to pass

2. The Viewer window

All output from statistical analyses is printed to the Output Viewer window as well as other
useful information. When you execute a command for a statistical analysis, regardless of whether
 you used syntax or dialog boxes, the output will be printed in the Output Viewer. Some other
output that you may want to have printed to the Output Viewer are command syntax, titles, and
error messages. It is displayed after any data manipulation

 Analysis result, commands are displayed in the viewer window

 Editing of graphs is also performed in this window field.

The Viewer window displays all

 Statistical results,
 Tables, and
 Charts
 Commands…… etc.
 It has *.spv extension

Menu bar and toolbar

buttons in output
window

Output in outline Output in detail

3. The Syntax Editor
Another important window in the SPSS environment is the Syntax Editor. In earlier versions of
SPSS, all of the procedures performed by SPSS were submitted through the use of syntax which
instructed SPSS on how to process your data. More recent versions contain pull-down menus
with dialog boxes that allow you to submit commands to SPSS without ever writing syntax.
These SPSS for Windows tutorials focus on the use of the dialog boxes to execute procedures;
however, there are a couple of important reasons why you should be aware of SPSS syntax even
if you plan to primarily use the dialog boxes. First, not all procedures are available through the
dialog boxes. Therefore, you may occasionally have to submit commands from the Syntax
Editor. Second, you should be aware of the Syntax Editor so that you can save procedures as
syntax to be rerun at a later date. The dialog boxes available through the pull-down menus have a
button labeled Paste which will print the syntax for the procedure you are running in the dialog
box environment to the Syntax Editor. Thus, you can easily generate SPSS syntax without typing
in the Syntax Editor.

 It is the window in which SPSS commands can be typed and submitted for processing.

 Commands saved in files can be opened in a syntax Editor window for processing.

 It has *.sps extension

 Clicking here can produce a syntax A syntax file is formed by two ways;
Program that can be reproduced later
1. Manual writing (for programmers)
2. By clicking at „paste‟ of any function in
recoding, transforming or analysis
3. Resent versions also keep syntaxes at the
viewer windows

Syntax development from any function

 First manipulate the function
Eg. Analysis Descriptive Frequency
statistics
The frequency menu will appear

After entering the variables click ‘paste’

• A written syntax menu having the program will appear as below

 Syntax menu

Program with a command

 Once a syntax is written, we are able to execute it.

 In executing a syntax we are able to do the whole program as whole or by selecting part of
the syntax

 To do the whole syntax, select the „run‟ from the pull down menu of the syntax and select
„all‟

 To execute part of the syntax, shade it and run the file

The Viewer window displays all statistical results, tables, and charts.

SPSS Viewer

The second important feature is its use of Pull-down menu items and tool bars.

Pull-downMenu
Items
The tool bar provide a quick, easy method of accessing commonly required tasks.

Tool Bar

The pull-menu and tool bar items change from one type of window to another.

Different Windows, Different

pull down Menu Items
Pull-down items important for discussion when a person wants to use SPSS
Opening an existing data file
 Your data may already have been entered and saved as a data file
o in SPSS having „*.sav‟ extension or
o a different package
 Such as EPI info, Excel, SAS, Stata or dBase etc.
 in data editor window, select file, open, data
 Choose the file type, and then browse and select your file so it appears by file name.

File Open Data

By clicking the file type,

You are able to find the type of
software
4. Overview of Excel as a data entry tool

In the introduction part, we have raised that the data collection process will be done by using
electronic data collection systems such as Excel, Epi info and Epi data. Off course we can also
directly enter data in to SPSS and Stata. In this course an overview of excel is included as a data
entry tool and a priori basic knowledge about excel is expected from the students.

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet application program offered in the Microsoft office software
package and lets the user add information to a spreadsheet/ worksheet. Each workbook starts
with three worksheets, but you can add and delete sheets depending on what you need. Excel do
have the following interface

4.1. Working with Worksheet

Worksheets are the pages that you are working with. A Worksheet is also considered a
Spreadsheet. You can see these sheets named on tabs at the bottom of the page. The Worksheets
are called Sheet 1, Sheet 2, and Sheet 3.
 To work with a sheet, click your cursor on the tab of the sheet you want to work with. This
action activates the Worksheet so that you may work with that particular sheet.
 To add another sheet you must click on the last sheet in the Row and click on the icon shown
below. Once you click on this icon another sheet will open.
The Worksheet Cell

The Excel sheets are divided into grids called “cells” where you can enter the Data. A cell is a
box where you can enter text or other information. It is an intersection of column and row.
 The columns are indicated by the letters and the Rows with the numbers. The name of cell
starts with capital letter and follows with number. Observe the following that Cell A2 is made up
of column A and row 2. Whenever you select a particular cell its location is displayed in Name
box nearby Formula Bar.
 Then add your data to worksheet.
Enter data manually in worksheet cells
You can enter numbers (with or without fixed decimal points), text, dates, or times in one cell, in
several cells at once, or on more than one worksheet.
 On the worksheet, click a cell.
 Type the numbers or text that you want, and then press Enter or Tab key.
 To start data on a new line within a cell, enter a line break by pressing ALT+ENTER.
 By default, pressing ENTER moves the selection down one cell, and pressing Tab moves the
selection one cell to the right.
Filter the Data in Cells
 Select the cells to be filtered,
 Click on selected cells and point on Filter command.

 Now click on the funnel and deselect the data you want to filter out.
 Then, click on down arrow present in the first row and deselect the number you wish to filter
out.

Applying Borders to Worksheet

Borders are similar to Gridlines. The main difference is that Gridlines always stay the same, but
you can change the way your Borders look. Gridlines will show up around every Cell, but you
can choose which Cells you want to put Borders around and how you want them to look. Borders
will print automatically without having to check a box. To add border to worksheet:
 Click on home tab
 On font group select Draw Border Grid from drop down list.
 Drag and draw border to area you wish to display grid line on the paper OR
 Select cells to be bordered
 Right click on selected border
 Look on the following figure border icon will be pop up as soon as you right click

Select border type in front of align center

 Then click on office button
 Select print preview under print submenu

Filtering a List
When you use the Data, Filter, AutoFilter command, drop‐ down list arrows are displayed next to
each of the column labels in the list. When you open a drop‐ down list, a list of all the unique
entries for that column is displayed. By selecting one of the entries from the drop‐ down list,
called a filter criterion you instruct Excel what to search for. Then Excel filters the list so that
only the sets of data that contain the entry you selected will be displayed. When Filter mode is
active, arrows for the columns with filter criterion selected appear in blue on the worksheet, row
numbers appear in blue, and the status bar displays either the number of rows that meet the
criteria, or the text “Filter mode.” The sets of data that do not meet the criteria remain in the list
but they are hidden.
If you select a single cell in the list before choosing Filter drop‐ down list arrows are applied to
all of the column labels in your list. If you select multiple column labels before choosing Filter
drop‐ down list arrows are displayed only for the selected columns, thus restricting which
columns you can apply filters to. In either case, the entire list is filtered. Also, you can filter only
one list at a time on a worksheet.

Filtering a List Using AutoFilter:

 Place the active cell anywhere within your list.

 Click the FILTER option from the SORT & FILTER button on the HOME ribbon in the
EDITING group
OR

 Choose FILTER, button from the DATA ribbon, SORT & FILTER group.
 Your list column labels will appear with drop‐ down list arrows to the right.
 When you select the drop down arrow from the top of a particular column you will have
(depending on the data type) a box at the bottom of the menu with all unique values make
sure the values you wish to be seen are ticked. Select the values you are filtering
for.(Following Pictures)
 When all values you wish to see are ticked (this creates OR conditions for that column)
click OK to apply the filter for that column
OR
 You have sort order options at the top part of the menu which work in the same manner
as previously discussed if you select a sort order this will close the menu and apply the
filter.
 Repeat step 3 until you have set filter criteria for all columns that you wish to filter by.
 The list will show only those rows that match your criteria.
Each time you apply criteria to a column you create AND conditions across columns that reduce
the number of records that will be displayed. Using the simple auto filter OR conditions cannot
be applied across columns. (see advanced filter). More AND conditions = less records Whilst a
filter is active, if you print the worksheet, only visible rows will be output, so you can print out
multiple views of your data from an individual list.

Working with Tables

When you create a table in Microsoft Office Excel, you can manage and analyze the data in that
table independently of data outside of the table. Table makes it easy to sort, filter, and format
data within a sheet.
Create an Excel Table
To insert table in a sheet:
 On a worksheet, select the range of empty cells or data that you want to make a table.
 On the Insert tab, in the Tables group, click Table.
 If the selected range contains data that you want to display as table headers, select the My
table has headers check box.
 Table headers display default names that you can change if you don't select the My table has
headers check box
 After you create a table, the Table Tools become available, and a Design tab is displayed. You
can use the tools on the Design tab to customize or edit the table. OR
 Select the cells and the press Ctrl + T
Overview of PivotTable
Use a PivotTable to summarize, analyze, explore, and present summary data. Use a PivotChart
to visualize this summary data in a PivotTable report, and to easily see comparisons, patterns,
and trends. Both a PivotTable report and a PivotChart report enable you to make informed
decisions about critical data in your enterprise. The following sections provide an overview of
PivotTable reports.
Pivot Table
A PivotTable is an interactive way to quickly summarize, analyze, explore, and present summary
large amounts of data. It is used to analyze numerical data in depth and to answer unanticipated
questions about your data. A PivotTable is especially designed for:
 Querying large amounts of data in many user-friendly ways.
 Subtotaling and aggregating numeric data, summarizing data by categories and subcategories,
and creating custom calculations and formulas.
 Expanding and collapsing levels of data to focus your results, and drilling down to details
from the summary data for areas of interest.
Moving rows to column or columns to rows (or "pivoting") to see different summaries of the
source data.
 Filtering, sorting, grouping, and conditionally formatting the most useful and interesting
subset of data to enable you to focus on the information that you want.
 Presenting concise, attractive, and annotated online or printed reports. You often use a
PivotTable report when you want to analyze related totals, especially when you have a long list
of figures to sum and you want to compare several facts about each figure. Example: - To
summarize the number of Male, Female and Total trainees that have taken basic computer in
OICTDA starting from 2000- 2004 the steps will be the following.

 Insert the following data to a worksheet cells

 Click on Insert tab
 Click on PivotTable icon
 Click on Ok button
 Select Male, Female and Total check box on PivotTable list fields
The output will automatically display.
 Rename the values header with Summaries on the output PivotTable
 Finally click anywhere in a worksheet to remove PivotTable list fields pane or close it.
Therefore the result will be: