Research Guides: DPDS Social Sciences Workshop Resources: Dates as Data

Dates as Data

Objectives:

1. Recognize problematic or suspicious date formats.
2. Use formulas to separate dates into their component values (e.g. Month, Day, Year).

Key Points:

1. Use extreme caution when working with date data.
2. Splitting dates into their component values can make them easier to handle.

Dates as Data Video Demonstration
Watch the workshop zoom video demonstration on understanding date formats. Video length is 6 minutes 21 seconds.
Social Science Workshop Registration
Register for the Social Science Workshop to gain hands-on experience and practice section objectives alongside a certified instructor.

Dates as Data Guide
Workshop guide provided by Data Carpentry that explains date formats in spreadsheets, dates stored as integers, and regional date formatting.
Microsoft Support: Excel help & learning
Explore Excel topics like collaborating in Excel, using formulas and functions, formatting data, importing and analyzing data, troubleshooting, and more.
Microsoft Support: Change the date system, format, or two-digit year interpretation
Explains how Excel stores dates and times as serial values for data calculations and formats, why there are two data systems (1900 and 1904), how two-digit years are interpreted, how to change the default date format to display four-digit years, how to change the date system in Excel, and how to correct problems that arise from navigating workbooks using different date systems.
Microsoft Support: Format a date the way you want
Explains how to choose from a list of data formats, create a custom data format, and tips for displaying dates.
Microsoft Learn: Differences between the 1900 and the 1904 date system in Excel
Explains the two date systems and the problems that you may encounter when you use workbooks that use different date systems.

Microsoft Support: Excel video training
Explore Excel video tutorials on various topics like working with rows and columns, cells, formatting, formulas and functions, tables, charts, PivotTables, sharing capabilities, linked data types and more.
Split data into different columns in Microsoft Excel
Explains through a video tutorial how to take the text in one or more cells, and split it into multiple cells. Video length is 59 seconds.