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Using Spreadsheets in Research – Best Practices

Jan Cheetham , PhD (DoIT Academic Technology) Barry Radler, PhD (UW Institute on Aging). Using Spreadsheets in Research – Best Practices. RDS Brownbag, October 8, 2013. Spreadsheets in Research. Usage is ubiquitous Problems with documentation, reproducibility Example:

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Using Spreadsheets in Research – Best Practices

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  1. Jan Cheetham, PhD (DoIT Academic Technology) Barry Radler, PhD (UW Institute on Aging) Using Spreadsheets in Research – Best Practices RDS Brownbag, October 8, 2013

  2. Spreadsheets in Research • Usage is ubiquitous • Problems with documentation, reproducibility • Example: • Reinhart and Rogoff paper scandal (April, 2013) • Cited 567 times since 2010 • Referenced in stimulus/austerity debates

  3. Recommendations for Spreadsheets • Save a RAW copy of each spreadsheet • Take a class, become a power spreadsheet user • See resources at: http://researchdata.wisc.edu/manage-your-data/spreadsheets/ • Consider moving to another software for analysis • Make your spreadsheets more: • Machine readable • Human readable

  4. Machine-readable

  5. Human-readable A separate document that describes and explains: • The data set • Variables (field names, column headings, etc.) • Data values (codes, data labels, etc) • Type of values and formats • What data values mean; code lists • Formulas and analysis steps

  6. One Tool: Colectica for Excel Variable Dataset Codes Catgories?

  7. Colectica for Excel • Documents and identifies: • Datasets • Variables • Code lists • Categories • Add more metadata than Excel supports on its own • Colectica for Excel is based on DDI • www.ddialliance.org

  8. Colectica for Excel • Enables reuse of metadata through unique identification • Variables can share the same code list • Records audit trail through versioning

  9. Document Datasets

  10. Document Variables

  11. Record Custom Fields

  12. Document Code Lists

  13. Reuse Code Lists

  14. Publish Documentation • Generate Codebooks from Excel • PDF, HTML, Word, XSL-FO • Publish DDI 3.1 XML

  15. Resources Colectica for Excel: www.colectica.com/software/colecticaforexcel DataUp dataup.cdlib.org/

  16. Resources Research Data Services researchdata.wisc.edu “Practice good data management!”

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