random or blind study

  • Thread starter Thread starter JanaLW
  • Start date Start date
J

JanaLW

what's a quick easy way to translate a column of names
into a 'neutral' list or nonsensical list of names in
order to submit a BLIND test list to another party? Don't
want second party to know what the original cell contents
were, but still maintin some type of identity for first
party to match up with original list later.

thanks for any tips, hints. I am sure this has been done
before...

JanaLW
 
Jana,

Use numbers. Insert a new column B, enter
= ROUND(RAND()*10000000000,0)
next to your first name, then copy down to match your list of names.

Copy all the cells with your new formula, then paste special values to
get rid of the formulas. Check for uniqueness by inserting a new
column C and using the formula
=Countif(B1,B:B)>1
(assumes your random numbers are in column B)
and change any numbers where that returns TRUE. Then delete column C
and you're done.

HTH,
Bernie
MS Excel MVP
 
I would add a column to your data and fill it with ID numbers consisting
of random integers from 1 to N, where N is the number of subjects. (See

http://www.mcgimpsey.com/excel/randomint.html

for a couple of ways to do this.)

Then I would copy the data to a new workbook and delete the column of
names, so that the second party sees only ID numbers.

When the results are received from the second party, the first party can
then match the results with the ID numbers in the original workbook.
 
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