It’s common for surveys to take in text responses in various forms, but in the end, to get insights, they need to be quantified for measurements. The process of converting textual responses into quantifiable units is commonly referred to as quantification or scaling. In survey research, this approach is often part of Likert scaling or […]
Tag: Excel
Control charts: when, how and why
Control charts are essential for statistical quality control purposes, such as for monitoring performance and defects measurements. Control charts are also known as Shewhart charts or process-behavior charts as they are tools used to monitor and analyze the behavior of a process over time. They help identify variations in the process and determine whether those […]
Creating Word Clouds from Google Trends
Google Trends platform provides interesting view into what the world is searching online. In our age of digital information, it has become a critical tool for understanding the world’s curiosities and behaviors. It allows us to explore the popularity of search queries across many regions and languages over time. Marketers looking to gauge consumer interests, […]
Optimization Problems with Diminishing Returns
Optimization problems are a cornerstone of decision-making processes across various fields, from economics to engineering. However, they often encounter the phenomenon of diminishing returns, where the incremental benefit of a decision decreases as the level of investment or input increases. This concept can complicate optimization efforts, as it requires finding the right balance between resource […]
Creating a Fishbone Diagram Like a Pro in Excel
In this post I walk you through all the steps needed to create an amazing Fishbone diagram in Excel, without having to manually draw or paint anything. The steps presented here can be used to create any Fishbone diagram suited for your specific situation. What is a Fishbone Diagram? A fishbone diagram is a commonly […]
Creating a data-driven, dynamic cause-and-effect chart
In this post, I share my method of creating a chart to show how events impact another variable such as sales and prices in a data-driven, easy-to-read, and dynamic way. Think of it as a cause-and-effect visualization. Let’s look at an example scenario where this type of chart can be very useful. This is done […]
Understanding Step Charts (and creating them in Excel, Python)
Step charts are suitable for showing fluctuating or irregular values over time. There’s no built-in Step chart type in Excel, so most people use a Line chart instead, which is not really ideal or sometimes accurate (I’ll explain that below). With proper data shaping, it’s possible to create Step charts in Excel. In this post, […]
Building an at-a-glance holidays timeline
Today, I share the steps required to build an overall holiday calendar timeline in Excel. This allows you to see the entire year’s holidays with different categories (e.g. company holidays, federal, personal vacation, etc.) at a glance without requiring you to navigate month by month to see the events. All the year’s key events can […]
Prisoners of the world
In this post, I touch on a complex and touchy issue of the human society. We look at the prisoners’ population around the world for selected countries, while casting a wide net of diversity. With the data and visualizations presented, we should be able to answer: Which countries have the highest number of prisoners? Which […]
Present Value and Future Need with Inflation
Ugh…Inflation! No one seems to like it but what does it mean? How can we measure how much purchasing power we’re losing due to inflation? Questions such as these and more are answered in this post. Inflation is the rate at which the general level of prices for goods and services rises, eroding the purchasing […]