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Creating a New Database To create a datafile that works for you, first define your variables. That means you need to give each different variable a short name that describes it and assign it to a specific column in your spreadsheet.

1. Start by entering the names of your variables in the space just below the Column Letter (A, B, C….), as shown below.

2. Click in the blank cell and type in your variable name.

Data Entry In the worksheet shown below, data have been entered and the data belonging to participant #10 is highlighted. This is an African American male with a test score of 71.

Note that in Excel, all data to be entered into any of the analyses we perform must be numeric. That creates problems for variables measured on a categorical scale, such as Sex and Ethnicity. The solution is to assign numbers to different levels of these variables, and clearly define them below your data so that when you need to add labels or run data you know which number represents which category. In this case, we now know that males have been assigned the number 1 and females have been assigned the number 2. African Americans have been assigned the number 1, Caucasians have been assigned the number 2, and Latinos have been assigned the number 3. In all worksheets, your data will go across for each participant by row. So, row 2 contains all the data belonging to P1, row 3 contains all the data belonging to P2, and so forth. This may change for some of the analyses we run, but if so, that will be covered in the lectures for the appropriate week.