Statistical Analysis can be performed in a program such as Microsoft Excel but there is a lot of complex simulations and formulas to be setup in order to do this. Usually only super-users and programmers have the level of experience needed to conduct these type of complex calculations in such a program. Personally, I prefer to use a tried and tested software that I know will give me the functionality to be able to conduct my statistical analysis for business improvement.

Minitab is designed to enable businesses to perform statistical analysis on specific improvement projects. This section of the course will demonstrate how to use the software to conduct your statistical analysis for your business improvements.

BAR CHART ANALYSIS EXAMPLE

The below example shows two hospitals that are being compared for four different types of procedures performed at the hospitals. The Medical Director wanted to compare if a particular procedure was being performed more frequently at one hospital over the other. An easy way to demonstrate this is through the use of a bar chart.

Once the data has been collected (excel spreadsheet) the software is then used to construct a bar chart for analysis. To do this:

Choose Graph

Select Bar Chart from the list

Select Counts of Unique Values, because the data has unique values that are captured in the spreadsheet

Choose Cluster, because in this example there are multiple procedures across two hospitals being compared. Then click OK to advance to next option.

Next, we want to select the categorical values to display in the chart. Click on the name of the categorical value shown in top left corner and then click on the Select button shown below. Then click OK to display the bar chart.

The Bar Chart is now ready for analysis