P-Value in Excel

Probability value (P-Value) is a common statistical measurement. It helps you test the validity of your null hypothesis. Let’s learn how to find P-Value in Microsoft Excel.

How to Find the P-Value in Excel

Imagine you have a dataset, and you want to test the hypothesis that the two columns are correlated. We’ll use a real-world example. This table lists hours spent studying for an exam, along with exam results. The hypothesis is a correlation between the two: that more study time is linked to higher scores.

To find the P-Value, get started by going to the Data tab on Excel’s ribbon. On the far right side, find the Data Analysis button. You’ll see the Data Analysis menu with a list of Analysis Tools. Scroll down until you find the t-Test: Paired Two Sample for Means option. Click on it, then choose OK.

The t-Test menu appears, and asks for several inputs. Variable 1 is your data from column B. Click into the Variable 1 box, then click and drag to select your range of data in cells B2:B6. Repeat this with Variable 2, this time, selecting column C data in C2:C6.

Check the box for Labels. Alpha defaults to 0.05, which is commonly used in statistics. If your P-Value is less than 0.05, your hypothesis is found to be statistically significant.

Click OK. Excel will run the t-Test analysis and place it on a new sheet in your workbook. Your P-Value appears in row 11 for a one-tail test, and row 13 for a two-tail test.

As you can see, both values are tiny, certainly well below 0.05. This demonstrates that, yes, your hypothesis regarding the correlation is statistically significant.

This is a great example of how Excel automates advanced statistics and makes analysis a breeze. You can quickly analyze even the largest data sets, enabling fast and accurate decision-making.