Search & Select Data (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE ICT)

Search & Select Data in Spreadsheets

What is data selection?

• Data selection allows you to focus on a specific subset of your data based on certain criteria

• This is useful for analysing parts of a larger dataset

• You can select data using a single criterion or multiple criteria

Searching for data

• Specific data in spreadsheets can found by using various operators, these include:

  • AND

  • OR

  • NOT

  • Greater than >

  • Less than <

  • Equal to =

  • Greater than or equal to >=

  • Less than or equal to<=

  • Not equal to <>

• For example, you might search for all students who scored above 85 (>) AND are in Year 11

Wildcards

• wildcards can be used when you're unsure of the exact data you're looking for

• The most common wildcards are the asterisk (*) and the question mark (?)

• An asterisk represents any number of characters

  • For example, "A*" would find "Alex", "Aaron", etc.

• A question mark represents a single character

  • For example, "A?e" would find "Abe", but not "Alex"

Consider the following example spreadsheet:

• To select all students in Year 11, you could use the criterion "Year = 11"

• To search for students who are in Year 11 AND scored above 85, you could use the criteria "Year = 11" AND "Grade > 85"

Sorting data in a spreadsheet

Why do we need to sort data in a spreadsheet?

• Sorting data is a powerful feature in spreadsheets

• It arranges your data based on specific criteria

• You can sort in ascending or descending order

• You can sort data using a single criterion

  • For example, you could sort a list of names alphabetically

• In Excel, select the column you want to sort and then choose 'Sort A to Z' for ascending order or 'Sort Z to A' for descending order

You can also sort data using multiple criteria

• For example, you could sort a list of students first by grade, and then alphabetically by name within each grade

• In Excel, select your data and then choose 'Sort'. Add levels for each of your criteria

Consider the following example spreadsheet:

• If you sort by 'Name' (A to Z), the spreadsheet might look like this:

• If you sort by 'Name' (A to Z) and then 'Age' (Smallest to Largest), the spreadsheet would look like this: