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Thread: The twisted path

  1. #1
    VBAX Mentor tpoynton's Avatar
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    The twisted path

    My way to VBA is interesting (I'm biased), and perhaps revealing. My day job is teaching graduate level classes in counseling and school counseling at Suffolk University in Boston. Well, I actually teach night classes. This is my dream job, and I am very fortunate to have it.

    To get this job, I had to write a dissertation on something, so I wanted to do something useful for school counselors. After pondering things for a bit, I decided I wanted to help counselors improve their use of technology - in particular, I wanted to help teach counselors how to use technology to facilitate the data analysis aspects of their work. So, I started looking at existing software that could help, and found them all to be too expensive (SPSS), or too difficult to use (Excel). I then surveyed a bunch of counselors on the types of software they had on their computers, and found that 95% reported having Excel - and I suspect the other 5% had Excel and didnt know it. With this knowledge, I started developing a training program to teach them how to use Excel, and realized that I would need several days just to teach them the basic statistical analyses and how that information can influence their practice. Then I learned about some add ins for excel that make excel easier to use - but even these were somewhat expensive, and often more powerful than what counselors need.

    At this point, my advisor told me I should just develop my own program. I scoffed at the idea, and tried to find alternatives for six months. I hired a programmer to write the first version of 'EZAnalyze', and he did a great job - but he wrote it in C++, and I needed something that also worked on Macs. Then I hired a VBA programmer to help me implement the add in in VBA, but that was getting expensive, so I started learning things myself - mostly through the code provided. Once I got my feet wet, I loved learning more about VBA and what it could do, and was truly amazed.

    What is interesting about this is that I initially got into this to solve a 'training problem' - I only had 2 hours of training time in a computer lab, and developing the add in solved my training problem. What would take days without the add in can be accomplished in two hours. As a group, counselors are not the most tech savvy (of course, there are exceptions), so the notion of selecting ranges was sometimes difficult to grasp...

    SO, I consistently lurk here and find it to be friendly and extremely informative. I try to throw in my 2 cents every once in a while, and am often corrected (usually by Ken ) or informed of a different/better way to do something. It's great learning, and even though I am usually wrong I am never belittled.

    That's my story, and I am thankful VBAX exists! tim

  2. #2
    Distinguished Lord of VBAX VBAX Grand Master Bob Phillips's Avatar
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    I just learnt something. For whatever reason, I had assumed that you were a Tony. Now I know.

    I presume that you made EZAnalyze freeware?

  3. #3
    VBAX Mentor tpoynton's Avatar
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    I make people answer two questions before they can download (www.ezanalyze.com, if anyone is interested). If anyone here is interested in the code, you can probably crack my password , or just ask and I'll be happy to provide it. I get more complaints about requiring people to answer the questions than anything else.

    Once I get some 'free time', I am going to be making some needed changes to the code, and adding some more statistics. I have surprisingly few problems reported, but have had a handful of people find a problem with some code that is used in multiple routines ("disaggregation"). I also need to do a better job of error handling.

    Many of the things in EZAnalyze are in the Analysis Toolpak; however, I do not use the analysis toolpak because of it being inaccurate, particularly before Excel 2003. Even in 2003, the Toolpak does not create accurate statistics because of how it handles missing values...most of the other inaccuracies I have seen reported happen at the thousandths place or higher, which for my line of work is, er, insignificant.

    Sorry Bob; got a little carried away. Yes, it is free!

  4. #4
    Moderator VBAX Guru Ken Puls's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by xld
    I just learnt something. For whatever reason, I had assumed that you were a Tony. Now I know.
    Weird... me too!

    Quote Originally Posted by tpoynton
    I try to throw in my 2 cents every once in a while, and am often corrected (usually by Ken ) or informed of a different/better way to do something.
    ROFL!

    It's great to have you here, Tim, and we appreciate you chipping in!
    Ken Puls, CMA - Microsoft MVP (Excel)
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  5. #5
    Administrator
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    VBAX Master malik641's Avatar
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    Very interesting story thanks for sharing, Tim!

    Quote Originally Posted by tpoynton
    SO, I consistently lurk here and find it to be friendly and extremely informative. I try to throw in my 2 cents every once in a while, and am often corrected (usually by Ken ) or informed of a different/better way to do something. It's great learning, and even though I am usually wrong I am never belittled.
    Don't give up! Keep throwing in those 2 cents. I'm sure there will be a time when you share something that nobody has caught onto yet.

    Great to have you here, too, Tim I hope you'll find VBAX as enjoyable as I have!




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