5:Howtocalculatezscoresandcorrespondingprobabilities

Firstenterthe
datafromp.
119ofBasic
Statisticsfor
Psychologists
intoyourExcel
file:

Tocalculatez
scoresweneed
thesample
meanand
standard
deviation.For
themean,goto
cellG1,clickon
fx,Statistical,
andAverage
(alsoseethe
here[hyperlink
to3).

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BasicStatisticsforPsychologists5:Howtocalculatezscoresandcorrespondingprobabilities
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ClickonOKand
indicatethatthe
meanmustbe
calculatedover
thecellsA1:A9.

Tocalculatethe
standard
deviationofthe
sample(alsosee
here[hyperlink
to4a),gotocell
G2,clickonfx,
Statistical,
STDEVand
againdefinethe
cellsasA1:A9.

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BasicStatisticsforPsychologists5:Howtocalculatezscoresandcorrespondingprobabilities
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Nowwehavethe
meanandthe
standarddeviationof
thesample(the
alternativeissimplyto
type=MEAN(A1:A9)in
cellG1and
=STDEV(A1:A9)incell
G2).Wecanusethese
tocalculatethez
values.GotocellB1
andwrite=(A1
$G$1)/$G$2.Recall
thatyoumustusethe
$signsifyouwantthe
celltoremainthe
samewhenyoucopy
cellB1totheother
cellsofcolumnB.

Tocopythe
contentfromcell
B1totheother
cellsofcolumnB,
firstgowithcell
B1andcopythis
withCtrlC(orthe
copyiconinthe
topleftofthetop
panel).Then
activatecellsB2to
B9bygoingover
themwiththe
cursorwhile
keepingtheleft
buttonpressed.
ThenpressCtrlV
(orusethepaste
icon).

Nowthatwehavethezvalues,wemayalsowanttocalculatetheprobabilityoflowervaluesandtheprobabilityof
highervalues(seepp118119inthebook).

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BasicStatisticsforPsychologists5:Howtocalculatezscoresandcorrespondingprobabilities
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Tocalculatethe
probabilityof
lowervalues,go
tocellC1,click
onfx,
Statistical,and
NORMSDIST.

TheExcel
function
NORMSDIST
givesthelower
probabilityofa
zvalue.Clickon
OKandenterB1
asthecellfor
whichyouwant
tocalculatethe
lower
probability.

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BasicStatisticsforPsychologists5:Howtocalculatezscoresandcorrespondingprobabilities
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ClickonOKto
getthevaluein
cellC1.Then
copythe
contentsofcell
C1totheother
cellsofcolumn
C.

Noticethatyou
nowhavethe
same
informationas
intheSPSSfile
ofp.119ofthe
book.Youcan
enteranextra
columnwiththe
probabilityof
highervaluesby
definingcellD1
as=1C1.Then
copythiscellto
theothercells
ofcolumnD,to
getthe
following
outcome:

AtthispointyoumaywishtoimprovethelayoutofyourExcelfile.Forinstance,youmaywanttoaddcolumnnames
andtohaveafixedprecisionofyourvalues.

MarcBrysbaert www.palgrave.com/psychology/brysbaert
BasicStatisticsforPsychologists5:Howtocalculatezscoresandcorrespondingprobabilities
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Toaddcolumn
namestoyour
file,gowith
yourmouseto
rownumberat
theveryleftof
thefirstrow
andclickonthe
leftbuttonto
activateit.

Nowclickon
Insert,and
InsertSheet
Rows:

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BasicStatisticsforPsychologists5:Howtocalculatezscoresandcorrespondingprobabilities
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Thisprovides
youwithanew
rowinwhich
youcanenter
columnnames:

Entertitlesas
suggested
below.

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BasicStatisticsforPsychologists5:Howtocalculatezscoresandcorrespondingprobabilities
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Noticethatthe
definitionsof
thecellshave
automatically
beenupdated
toincorporate
thenewrow.
Forinstancethe
definitionofcell
B2nowis=
=(A2
$G$2)/$G$3to
capturethe
factsthatthe
samplemeanis
nowcalculated
incellG2and
thestandard
deviationincell
G3.

Toequalizethe
digitprecision,
activateallcells
withvalues,and
clickonthe
rightmouse
button:

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BasicStatisticsforPsychologists5:Howtocalculatezscoresandcorrespondingprobabilities
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SelectFormat
Cellsand
Number:

Number
precisionisper
default2.So,if
youclickOKyou
getthe
followingresult.
Ifyouwant
moreorless
digitsprecision,
youhaveto
indicatesoin
thepanel
beforeclicking
OK.

NowyouhaveeverythingtocalculatethezvaluesandthecorrespondingprobabilitiesinExcel!

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BasicStatisticsforPsychologists5:Howtocalculatezscoresandcorrespondingprobabilities
Palgrave,2011 9