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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Mastering Data Analysis in Excel by Duke University

4.2
stars
3,906 ratings

About the Course

Important: The focus of this course is on math - specifically, data-analysis concepts and methods - not on Excel for its own sake. We use Excel to do our calculations, and all math formulas are given as Excel Spreadsheets, but we do not attempt to cover Excel Macros, Visual Basic, Pivot Tables, or other intermediate-to-advanced Excel functionality. This course will prepare you to design and implement realistic predictive models based on data. In the Final Project (module 6) you will assume the role of a business data analyst for a bank, and develop two different predictive models to determine which applicants for credit cards should be accepted and which rejected. Your first model will focus on minimizing default risk, and your second on maximizing bank profits. The two models should demonstrate to you in a practical, hands-on way the idea that your choice of business metric drives your choice of an optimal model. The second big idea this course seeks to demonstrate is that your data-analysis results cannot and should not aim to eliminate all uncertainty. Your role as a data-analyst is to reduce uncertainty for decision-makers by a financially valuable increment, while quantifying how much uncertainty remains. You will learn to calculate and apply to real-world examples the most important uncertainty measures used in business, including classification error rates, entropy of information, and confidence intervals for linear regression. All the data you need is provided within the course, all assignments are designed to be done in MS Excel, and you will learn enough Excel to complete all assignments. The course will give you enough practice with Excel to become fluent in its most commonly used business functions, and you’ll be ready to learn any other Excel functionality you might need in the future (module 1). The course does not cover Visual Basic or Pivot Tables and you will not need them to complete the assignments. All advanced concepts are demonstrated in individual Excel spreadsheet templates that you can use to answer relevant questions. You will emerge with substantial vocabulary and practical knowledge of how to apply business data analysis methods based on binary classification (module 2), information theory and entropy measures (module 3), and linear regression (module 4 and 5), all using no software tools more complex than Excel....

Top reviews

TB

Nov 16, 2021

I like and appreciate courses provided through Coursera.This course is very interesting and valuable for those whose jobs do have relevance with data management .God bless Coursera and Duke University

JE

Oct 30, 2015

The course deserves a 5-star rating because: (1) content is relevant, (2) the professor is concise and possesses great teaching skills, and (3) the learning modules are applicable to daily problems.

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126 - 150 of 934 Reviews for Mastering Data Analysis in Excel

By Zhao M

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Nov 19, 2018

The course is designed very well and digs deeply into the usage of binary models. It will be great if more contents are offered about the multi-factor regression model.

By Prerna B

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Aug 1, 2020

great course to start data analytics with. The instructors have been very helpful and the content is great for anyone from intermediate to beginner level knowledge

By Kayla H

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Jan 20, 2018

This course was very helpful in refreshing my knowledge of Excel I had previously and including new tips and tricks for working in Excel that I didn't have before.

By Evandro M S R

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Dec 15, 2015

I teach quantitative methods in a Business course at University of São Paulo (Brazil). This is an excelent course with fundamentals and very usefull applications.

By Mike T

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Jun 12, 2021

This course is really great and requires mathematical skills to complete. The skill you can learn via this course is really practical and useful in really world.

By Nicholas K

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Sep 14, 2020

Ever since I enrolled for this course, i have learnt a lot in excel and got a lot of challenges(quizzes) that helped master what i had learnt. Thank you Coursera

By Alison T

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Dec 21, 2015

This course was a great recap in math/statistics that I had totally forgotten about. Things were explained clearly, and the application of concepts was practical

By Vivek S

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Sep 26, 2016

Excellent Course!! Great insight on binary classification model !! I recommend this course to anyone who is looking to master data analysis skills using Excel.

By Jennifer L

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Jan 24, 2019

Lots of information in a short period of time. Last Final was challenging to say the least, but by reading the Discussion Form you are able to get through it.

By 王玮

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Dec 30, 2019

very useful and straight forward course. excel is a handy and useful tool for everyday work and study, learning excel VBA and solver plug-in helps me a lot.

By Khalid Q

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Aug 18, 2016

The course is built around people doing/studying business and economics. I am a scientist but I still learned a lot from it. The course is very practical.

By Mike S

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Nov 6, 2015

GREAT ClASS!!!....The instructor is very good at explaining difficult topics the spreadsheets are very clear and comprehensive really enjoying this class

By atish s

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Aug 30, 2017

Statistics knowledge can be extremely helpful. Conceptually and course design is sufficient to explain what all is required to make a predictive model.

By Niklank J

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Apr 18, 2020

Precise, informative and challenging for a beginner. Hopefully, others take this course if they wish to understand the regression models from scratch.

By Saurabh K S

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Jun 8, 2020

A good course to start building primitive analysis models. Teaching and assignments are to the mark and assist in understanding the concepts better.

By Xi L

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Jul 31, 2017

I don't suggest to starters without econometrics or statistics knowledge, but the course is a quite systematic with elaborate examples or templates.

By Hitan C

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Nov 12, 2020

It is a tough course but if you finish it you gain a lot of knowledge about statistical analysis and application using excel! I really enjoyed it!

By Amrisha R

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Jun 4, 2017

The instructor has taken every possible care to present the content in a very lucid manner, decked with illustrative examples and case analytics.

By ALVIN S S M 2

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Jun 17, 2020

Really Intuitive course, and I really enjoyed the course content. The course is the best option if you are starting out as a Business Analyst.

By Javier L

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Nov 28, 2017

A very challenging course with lots of Information that will help you excel in statistics or at least gain a profound knowledge in this field.

By Galina

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Jan 13, 2016

Thank you very much for great course.

I have some difficult with this course and I did not finish it. Whatever the course was very interesting.

By Ndilisa M

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Sep 28, 2017

Great course!

I would have liked more practical linear regression example. This course has both been challenging and informative! Thank you.

By XIAOYUE X

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Dec 8, 2021

this course has conveyed profound knowledge about statistics, and shows us how to adapt statistic analyzing tools in excel. great teacher!

By kamran s

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Jun 4, 2018

I joined the course to learn some Excel but end up learning about Data Analysis. I enjoyed it very much it was tough but very informative.

By Peter M

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Feb 23, 2016

Great course for learning some data analysis with excel that is also accessible even if you have had little experience in excel before.