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With the increasing availability of online learning options, for completing degree programs, brushing up on technology skills should probably be a part of any study program for seasoned adults returning to school.

The Microsoft Excel user environment is full of many power features needed to perform statistics related tasks. However, there are several free Microsoft Excel add-ins available that are frequently used and provide additional statistical analysis functionality. This article lists a few of the popular statistics related free Microsoft Excel add-ins and how to add them into your Excel environment. At some point I will likely include some skill builder shorts, related to each of these tools, in the Skill Builder area of this website.

Why Consider Microsoft Excel for Statistics

Most all Microsoft Office products are useful to learn how to use; however, Microsoft Excel is a very popular statistical software application used in many college classrooms and in particular with business, finance, science and engineering students.  What’s more, graduate students enrolled in behavioral science degree programs such as education, psychology, and sociology could expect to find that many of their courses use Microsoft Excel for collecting and analyzing data.

Using a combination of built-in, and user defined, Microsoft Excel functions can typically be used to address most statistical analysis needs. Having access to these add ins could possibly make performing statistical tasks, in Microsoft Excel, much simpler and effectively.

How to Access Free Microsoft Excel Add ins

Add-in can be accessed and downloaded by selecting File … Options …Add-In. Then select the add-in of interest.  Once the add-in is installed, it can be accessed using menus within your Microsoft Excel window. Listed below are 5 popular Microsoft Excel Add-ins that can be helpful to seniors taking courses where statistical analysis tasks are needed to be performed.

1. Data Analysis ToolPak

As a statistics educator, I often required that the Data Analysis Toolpak be used in classes where Microsoft Excel was the statistical analysis tool.

The Data Analysis ToolPack is a free Microsoft Excel Add-in. It provides students with access to a collection of statistics tools that can be used to perform simple to complex analysis procedures.  This add-in can be downloaded by selecting File … Options …Add-In. Select the Data Analysis Toolpak from the list of Active Application Add-ins.  Then, in the Manage box ensure that Excel Add ins is selected from the drop down menu and press the Go button.  Once the add-in is installed, the Data Analysis ToolPak can be accessed from the Data menu.

2.Solver

In many business courses, students are often asked to determine the most optimal solution, for the allocation of resource, given a set of limiting conditions. These kinds of problems are often explored in linear programming or operations research and optimization courses. There are mathematical and statistical techniques that can be used to address these kinds of problems.

Solver is another useful, and free, Microsoft Excel add-in. It can be used for linear programming or operations research problems where equations to be solved are subject to some condition or constraint. Like the Data Analysis ToolPak, Solver can be accessed by selecting File … Options …Add-In. Select the Solver Add In from the list of Active Application Add-ins.  Then, in the Manage box ensure that Excel Add ins is selected from the drop down menu and press the Go button.  Once the add-in is installed, Solver can also be accessed from the Data menu.

3. Power Pivot

Datasets, for statistical purposes, are created and shared by numerous individuals and organizations for different purposes. The original design of the dataset may not be appropriate for current uses. That is, it may be necessary to reshape or restructure a dataset so that it can be used to support current needs.

Among its many potential uses, Power Pivot is Microsoft Excel add in that provides useful data table restructuring and analysis tools. It is free, but is accessible only in certain Microsoft Office packages. If your Microsoft Excel installation has this add in available, it can be accessed by selecting File … Options …Add-In. Then, in the Manage box ensure that COM Add ins is selected and press the Go button.  Select the Microsoft Power Pivot for Excel check box and then press OK. You should notice that a new menu, the Power Pivot menu tab, is displayed on the ribbon in Microsoft Excel and is ready for use.

4. Power Query

Now days, it seems that a large variety of individuals and organizations maintain data on the internet that can be accessed by others for use. Individuals can stay up to date on current trends, ratings, and marketing information simply by accessing data that is made available by an organization of interest.

With Power Query, external data sources can be imported in of connect to your Microsoft Excel spread sheet working environment. The many big data sources residing in the cloud, or on internet servers, the Power Query add-in can be quite useful to ensure that you can always access the most recent version of these datasets.

Power Query is an add-in that is technically embedded in current versions of Microsoft Excel and can be accessed from the Data menu using the Get & Transform section. Select the Launch Power Query Editor from the Get Data drop down menu.

5. Fuzzy Lookup

Given that data used in statistics is text-based and not just numerical, it can be quite useful to have familiarity with Microsoft Excel features that support text-based analyses. The Fuzzy Lookup add-in supports text searching, identification, and matching of text data in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Searching features can aid in identifying text matches and perform needed data clean up tasks in the spreadsheet in spite of the existence of some spelling, abbreviation, or other common text data entry errors.

The Fuzzy Lookup add-in for Microsoft Excel needs to be downloaded from the Microsoft website. Once downloaded and installed, it can be made available for use by selecting File … Options …Add-In. Select the Fuzzy Lookup for Excel Add In from the list of Active Application Add-ins.  Then, in the Manage box ensure that Excel Add ins is selected from the drop down menu and press the Go button.  A Fuzzy Lookup menu tab will then be displayed within your Microsoft Excel environment.