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Includes guidance on basic quality control, structuring variables and observations correctly, maintaining a reproducible workflow, and exporting cleaned datasets (e.g., to CSV) for downstream use in statistical analysis tools.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/","Template",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/presentations/","Presentations",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/using-spreadsheets-for-organizing-data-lesson-objectives-and-best-practices/243356/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/using-spreadsheets-for-organizing-data-lesson-objectives-and-best-practices/243356.png","ImageObject",442,249,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Mali","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-19","2026-09-12",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",12,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What are the main lesson objectives for using spreadsheets?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"The lesson focuses on good data entry and organization practices, avoiding common formatting mistakes, handling dates as data, performing basic quality control and manipulation, and exporting data from spreadsheets.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"Which common problems with spreadsheets should you watch for?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Spreadsheets are useful for data entry, but users often overuse them for tasks better suited to other tools. They may still be suitable for data cleaning before importing into statistical analysis software, such as after discussions of tools like OpenRefine.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"How should you structure data in spreadsheets to keep it analyzable?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Place each variable in its own column, each observation in its own row, avoid combining multiple pieces of information in a single cell, keep raw data unchanged, and export the cleaned dataset to a text-based format such as CSV.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},243356,1791743043,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,97,102,107,112,117,122],{"id":85,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},11,90,"presentations",{"id":55,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Resumes",80,"resumes",{"id":93,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":94,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":96},14,"Invoices",70,"invoices",{"id":98,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":99,"show_sort_weight":100,"slug":101},15,"Posters",60,"posters",{"id":103,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":104,"show_sort_weight":105,"slug":106},16,"Social Media",50,"social-media",{"id":108,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":109,"show_sort_weight":110,"slug":111},17,"Forms",40,"forms",{"id":113,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":114,"show_sort_weight":115,"slug":116},18,"Letters",30,"letters",{"id":118,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":119,"show_sort_weight":120,"slug":121},21,"Paper Templates",5,"papers-templates",{"id":123,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":4,"slug":125},158,"General","general-158",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":127},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":128,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":129,"doc_module":22,"category_id":85,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":130,"file_id":131,"file_url":132,"file_type":133,"file_size":134,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":135,"language":136,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":137,"faqs":138,"seo_title":139,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":140,"read_time":141},2336475104362,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/22000c4c46a41b752dd?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1786595829695023868","CERC Health Equity & Community Wellbeing Training  \nJanuary 29-30, 2025  \nLed by: Meghan Landry, ACENET  \nThe following lesson has been adapted from the Library Carpentry’s Tidy Data lesson . These materials are free to share and adapt as needed.  \n[support@ace-net.ca](support@ace-net.ca)  \nLesson objectives  \nWhat we will cover today:  \n● Good data entry & organization practices, such as formatting data tables in spreadsheets  \n● How to avoid common formatting mistakes  \n● Dates as data (beware!)  \n● Basic quality control and data manipulation in spreadsheets  \n● Exporting data from spreadsheets  \nWhat we will not cover today:  \n● How to do statistics in a spreadsheet  \n● How to do plotting in a spreadsheet  \n● How to write code in spreadsheet programs  \n● Data analysis  \n[support@ace-net.ca](support@ace-net.ca)  \nUsing spreadsheets programs for data organization  \nGood data organization is the foundation of much of our day-to-day work as academics  \nWhat we usually use spreadsheets for:  \n● Data entry  \n● Organizing data  \n● Subsetting and sorting data  \n● Statistics  \n● Plotting, and more  \nMuch of your time when you’reproducing a report will be spent in this ‘data wrangling’ stage. It’s not the most fun, but it’s necessary.  \n[support@ace-net.ca](support@ace-net.ca)  \nA quick note about spreadsheet programs  \nThere are a number of programs to use on a desktop or web browser:  \n● LibreOffice Calc (free)  \n● Microsoft Excel  \n● Apple Numbers  \n● Google Sheets  \n● Gnumeric  \n● Apache OpenOffice Calc  \nThings to keep in mind:  \n● Commands may differ between programs, between operating systems (i.e. Excel looks different on Mac vs . Windows), and between versions  \n● My interface may look different than yours and that’s okay!  \n[support@ace-net.ca](support@ace-net.ca)  \nProblems with spreadsheets  \n● Spreadsheets are good for data entry, but the reality is that we use it for much more than that: creating data tables, generating summary statistics, and making figures  \n● Spreadsheet programs are not suitable for many tasks and jobs, and we need to consider when to use other programs for our specific tasks or goals  \n● Spreadsheet programs can sometimes be suitable for data cleaning, prior to importing data into a statistical analysis program .  \n○ We will discuss data cleaning software, such as OpenRefine, atthe end of the presentation  \n [support@ace-net.ca](support@ace-net.ca)  \nQuestions to ask yourself about your data or project  \nWhen to use Excel? When you:  \n● Want a flat or non relational view of your data  \n● When your data is mostly numeric  \n● Frequently run calculations & statistical comparisons on your data  \n● Want to perform sophisticated what-if analysis operations on your data  \n● Want to keep track of items in a simple list, either for personal use or for limited collaboration purposes  \nWhen to use a database (Access, SQL)? When you:  \n● Anticipate many people working in the database  \n● Anticipate the need to add more tables to a dataset that originated as flat table  \n● Want to run complex queries  \n● Want to produce a variety of reports  \nAdapted from “Using Access or Excel to manage your data”  \n[support@ace-net.ca](support@ace-net.ca)  \nFormatting data tables in spreadsheets  \nWell-formatted tables and data organization is the key  \n● The most common mistake we make is treating a spreadsheet like it is a notebook by relying on:  \n○ Context  \n○ Notes in the margin  \n○ Spatial or visual layout of data & fields to convey information  \n○ And making it look ‘pretty’  \n[support@ace-net.ca](support@ace-net.ca)  \nKeeping track of your analyses  \n1. Create a new file or tab with your cleaned or analyzed data. Do not modify that original dataset, or you will never know where you started!  \n2. Keep track of the steps you took in your clean up or analysis. You can do this by:  \na . Creating a new text file  \nb. Create a new tab in your spreadsheet with your notes  \ni.  Save your spreadsheet with a file format compatible with ","cbCailozQDyhxNsl","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCailozQDyhxNsl","pdf",2341841,57,"English","# Lesson objectives\n## Using spreadsheets programs for data organization\n## A quick note about spreadsheet programs\n## Problems with spreadsheets\n## Questions to ask yourself about your data or project\n## Formatting data tables in spreadsheets\n## Keeping track of your analyses\n## Structuring data in spreadsheets","[{\"question\":\"What are the main lesson objectives for using spreadsheets?\",\"answer\":\"The lesson focuses on good data entry and organization practices, avoiding common formatting mistakes, handling dates as data, performing basic quality control and manipulation, and exporting data from spreadsheets.\"},{\"question\":\"Which common problems with spreadsheets should you watch for?\",\"answer\":\"Spreadsheets are useful for data entry, but users often overuse them for tasks better suited to other tools. They may still be suitable for data cleaning before importing into statistical analysis software, such as after discussions of tools like OpenRefine.\"},{\"question\":\"How should you structure data in spreadsheets to keep it analyzable?\",\"answer\":\"Place each variable in its own column, each observation in its own row, avoid combining multiple pieces of information in a single cell, keep raw data unchanged, and export the cleaned dataset to a text-based format such as CSV.\"}]","Using Spreadsheets for Organizing Data - Lesson Objectives and Best Practices | PDF",1789203068,20]