PS 300: Introductory Quantitative Methods
These instructions presume that the reader is using Internet Explorer or Netscape, Windows 98/NT/2000/XP© operating systems and Microsoft Excel for the spreadsheet. If you are using alternate software, the specific instructions will vary, but conceptually the process is likely to be about the same.
First, find your data sources. Try one of the following:
Next, block the data with the cursor so that you can cut-and-paste the data you desire. Using the Edit menu item on IE or Netscape to Copy the data (This puts a copy of the blocked portion of the Web page into Windows Clipboard).
Now minimize Netscape or IE and open your spreadsheet. After the new spreadsheet has opened, click the pointer on a cell, and then use the Paste button to copy the data into the spreadsheet. If this has gone well, you should see your data appear in the spreadsheet. If the data is there, you can now close Netscape/IE.
Note that your data now appears as a single column of labels. It will likely spread over several columns in width, but all the information in contained in one cell per row. It is also likely that the alignment for the columns has been altered. This can be adjusted in one of two ways: (1) Strip out all column totals and subtotals, and (2) if still needed, set the spreadsheet font to
Courier 10.
With luck, your data's column alignment is still preserved. Without it, you need to add spaces so that the data may be parsed. If you are using the Percapita Income example, this will preserve the column formating needed for parsing.
Parsing the Data - Instructions for MS Excel
Quite frequently now, data on the web can be cut and pasted into Excel in exactly the correct format. Occasionally the data will be in formated text and must be 'parsed' into columns. Excel does all this quite easily.
Open up Excel
Position the cell cursor and click
Edit > Paste
to paste the data from the web into the spreadsheet.
Click
Data > Text to Columns..
Follow the instructions