Thesis Report

i

Universiti Teknologi MARA

Productivity Software Literacy Among

Accounting And Applied Sciences UiTM Students

Wan Natasha Elaiza Binti Wan Norzailan

Thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for Bachelor of Science (Hons) Business Computing

Faculty of Computer And Mathematical Sciences

November 2009

ii

APPROVAL

Productivity Software Literacy Among UiTM Students

By

WAN NATASHA ELAIZA BINTI WAN NORZAILAN

This thesis was prepared under the direction of Final Year Project Coordinator, Puan

Anitawati Mohd Lokman and has been approved by thesis supervisor, Puan

Rozianawaty Binti Osman. It was submitted to the Faculty of Computer and

Mathematical Sciences and was accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for

Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Business Computing.

Approved By:

NOVEMBER 19, 2009 ....……………………………….

(Puan Rozianawaty Binti Osman)

SUPERVISOR

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DECLARATION

I declare that the work in this thesis was carried out in accordance with the regulations

of Universiti Teknologi MARA. It is original and is the result of my own work, unless

otherwise indicated or acknowledged as referenced work. This topic has not been

submitted to any other academic institution or non-academic institution for any other

degree or qualification.

In the event that my thesis be found to violate the condition mention above, I voluntarily

waive the right of conferment of my degree and agree be subjected to the disciplinary

rules and regulations of Universiti Teknologi MARA.

Name of Candidate : Wan Natasha Elaiza Binti Wan Norzailan

Candidate’s ID No. : 2007123833

Programme : BSc. (Hons) Business Computing

Faculty : Computer and Mathematical Sciences

Thesis Title : Productivity Software Literacy

Among

Accounting and Applied Sciences UiTM Students

Signature of Candidate:

Date : 19 NOVEMBER 2009

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In the name of Allah, the most gracious and the most merciful. Alhamdulillah, thanks to

the Almighty for giving us the idea and blessing us with strength and courage to

complete this thesis. First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to dedicate my

appreciation and special thanks to all people who involved in finishing this study

especially to my dedicated supervisor, Puan Rozianawaty Binti Osman for her

encouragement, guidance, tolerance, detailed review, constructive criticism and

excellent advice during the preparation of this thesis.

I also would like to express my appreciation to my lecturers, especially Puan Anitawati

Mohd Lokman for her priceless guidance, ideas and critics to make the best of this

research. Last but not least, I also would like to extend my gratitude and appreciation to

my family, especially my uncle, Wan Ameer Ruzman Bin Dato Wan Salaidin for his

advices and also for my friends who really give me the fully support, encouragement and

motivation during this work. Thank you.

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ABSTRACT

The major problem of Accounting and Applied Sciences students of UiTM is they lack

of skills in using spreadsheets which they need to apply a lot in their studies.

Spreadsheet is the one of the productivity software. This work presents the level of

competency in spreadsheet of Accounting and Applied Sciences students of UiTM and

the set of skills of spreadsheet required by Accounting and Applied Sciences students of

UiTM. The pre-study was conducted earlier among 40 students of UiTM, most of

students especially students from Accounting and Applied Sciences Faculty have

difficulties in using spreadsheets. A survey conducted using questionnaire and

experiment was done among Accounting and Applied Sciences students to identify the

level of competency in using spreadsheets and to identify set of skills needed by

Accounting and Applied Sciences students in order to increase the level of competency

in spreadsheet. Graphs and tables are presented to show the level of competency in

spreadsheet of students and set of spreadsheet skills needed by Accounting and Applied

Sciences students is presented. This study found that students of Accounting and

Applied Sciences students do not achieve the minimum competency in spreadsheet and

this study found a set of skills needed by Accounting and Applied Sciences students in

order to possess high competency in spreadsheet. The set of skills that was founded by

this study is very useful to UiTM because this set of skills can help UiTM to increase the

Accounting and Applied Sciences students competency in spreadsheet.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv ABSTRACT v LIST OF FIGURES viii LIST OF TABLES ix LIST ABBREVIATIONS x CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.0 Research Background

1.0.1 Research Problem

1.1 Research Questions

1.2 Objective of Research

1.3 Scope of Research

1.4 Significance of Research

1-2

3-4

4

4

4

5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Definition of Terms

2.0.1 Computer Skills for Undergraduate

2.0.2 Productivity Software

2.0.3 Spreadsheet

2.0.4 People Who Use Spreadsheet

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6-9

9-13

14-15

16-17

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.0 Data Collection

3.0.1 Primary Data

3.0.2 Secondary Data

3.1 Selection of Research Method

3.1.1 Experiment

3.1.2 Questionnaire

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18

18

19

19

19

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3.1.3 Interviews

3.2 Flow Chart of Research Methodology

3.3 Phases of Research Methodology

3.3.1 Planning Research Phase

3.3.2 Literature Review Phase

3.3.3 Data Collection And Analysis Phase

3.3.4 Documentation Phase

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21

22

22

22

22-23

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CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

4.0 Analysis of Category of Tasks That Mostly Students Need To Apply

Microsoft Excel

4.1.Analysis of Subjects That Required Students To Apply Microsoft

Excel

4.2 Experiment To Analyze Student’s Ability To Use Microsoft Excel

4.3 The Identified Required Skills Of Spreadsheet Program For

Accounting And Applied Sciences Students

24-28

29-31

32-38

39-42

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.0 Conclusion

5.1 Limitation of Research

5.2 Recommendation

5.3 Suggestion For Further Research

43-44

44

45

45

REFERENCES 46-49 APPENDICES 50

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

Figure 1.0:

Graph of The Mostly Used and The Most Difficult Productivity

Software Applied by Students. 3

Figure 2.1: Example of Microsoft Excel screen shot 15 Figure 3.1: The Flow Chart of Research Methodology 21

Figure 4.1: Category of Tasks Applied by Accounting and Applied Sciences

Students 26

Figure 4.2: Category of Tasks Applied by Applied Sciences Students 27 Figure 4.3: Category of Tasks Applied by Accounting Students 28

Figure 4.4: Total Number of Subjects Need To Apply Microsoft Excel for

Accounting and Applied Sciences Students 31

Figure 4.5: Experiment Result for Question 1 – Calculations and Formatting

Tables 33

Figure 4.6: Experiment Result for Question 2 – Calculations and Formatting

Tables 35

Figure 4.7: Experiment Result for Question Create Pie Chart 36 Figure 4.8: Experiment Result for Question Create Graph 37 Figure 4.9: Experiment Result for Question Section C – Balance Sheet 38

Figure 4.10: Set of Skills of Spreadsheet for Applied Sciences students 39 Figure 4.11: Set of Skills of Spreadsheet for Accounting students 41

Figure 5.0: Set of Skills of Spreadsheet for Accounting and Applied Sciences

students 44

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LIST OF TABLES

Table

Page

Table 2.1: List of IT Skills for University Chemistry Students 7

Table 2.2: List of IT Skills for the General Undergraduate Electronic-Learning

Environment 8

Table 2.3: List of Skills Using and Creating Spreadsheets 11

Table 2.4: List of Skills Creating Multimedia Presentations 12

Table 2.5: List of Skills Using Word Processing and Desktop Publishing 13

Table 4.1: Category of Tasks 25

Table 4.2: List of Subjects That Accounting Students Applied Microsoft Excel 29

Table 4.3: List of Subjects That Applied Sciences Students Applied Microsoft Excel 30

x

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

IT Information Technology

UiTM Universiti Teknologi Mara

PIMS Profit Impact of Market Strategy

OS Operating System

MTLSS Maryland Technology Literacy Standards for Students

HTML Hyper Text Markup Language

PDF Portable Document Format

RTF Rich Text Format

VBA Visual Basic for Applications

AS Applied Sciences

AC Accounting

AIS 130 Computer Application in Accounting

AIS 510 Accounting Information System

MCC Melati Computer Club

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

This chapter provides overview of this research project and discusses about research

background which consists of research problem and scope of project, research questions,

objective and significance of the research.

1.0 Research Background Nowadays, university graduates are expected to be proficient users of computer

technologies and basic software applications which is referred as productivity

software. Productivity software is an application designed to help individuals

complete tasks more efficiently. Examples of productivity software include word

processing program, spreadsheets, graphic programs and presentation software. This

productivity software becomes important because most of tasks today such as typing

letters, accounting or presentations can be done easily using it. In addition, the

productivity software has changed the way of people doing their jobs and most of

employers nowadays searching for fresh graduates who possess the skills of using

this productivity software.

According to Johnson, Bartholomew and Miller (2006) stated that employers

continue to rate that skills in using of productivity or application software as an

important skills which employees must have. Monk, Davis, Peasley, Hillman and

Yarbrough (1996) stated that agricultural employers also place significant

importance on computer skills, with more than 80% indicating that computer skills

are either an ‘important” or “very important” factor considered when making

employment decisions. Andelt, Barret and Bosshamer (1997), Graham (1997) and

Radhakrishna and Bruening (1994) studies found that university agriculture

graduates consistently rate computer skills as being important to career success.

2

According to Forrester Research (2009), some version of Microsoft Office is used in

80% of enterprises and the latest Office versions which Office 2007 hold roughly of

those installations. From all of these statements, it shows that computer skills such as

productivity software skills is seems to be very important to the graduates of

university or college in order to fulfill one of the desirable qualities expected by

employers.

According to Murray, Hopper and Perez (2007), the skills in using productivity

software have been included in undergraduate IT literacy courses for decades.

However, as the assumption grew that students were learning office application

skills (also known as productivity software skills) before arriving at university, the

emphasis in many IT literacy courses moved away from teaching of office

applications. According to Kieffer (1995), many university faculty and

administrators accept the premise that students enter college already possessing basic

computer skills. Stone, et al (2006) and Perez and Murray (2006) in their studies

found that most of students do not possess basic office applications skills after the

changes happened which means that the changes made by many university faculty to

moved away from teaching of office applications in many IT literacy courses. This

statement shows that most of students nowadays do not possess basic office

applications skills which is so important to them after their universities moved away

from teaching of office applications in their IT literacy courses.

This study has been conducted in order to identify what are the required skills

needed by Accounting and Applied Sciences students of UiTM to possess high skills

in spreadsheet program because Accounting and Applied Sciences students are very

dependent to the spreadsheet program in their learning. Besides that, it is hope that

this study can help UiTM to produce graduates that possess productivity software

skills efficiently.

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1.0.1 Research Problem According to the pre-study result which was conducted previously by using 40 sets

of questionnaires, 39 students from 40 students did not know how to use one of the

office applications which is Microsoft Excel. These 40 students consists of

Accounting and Applied Sciences students who need to use spreadsheet software in

their studies. Therefore, in order to find what is the set of basic skills of spreadsheet

needed by Accounting and Applied Sciences students, a study on productivity

software literacy among UiTM students has been carried out. According to Murray,

Hopper and Perez (2007), there is a lot of to be done to accurately capture those

desirable productivity software skills.

Figure 1.0: Graph of The Mostly Used and The Most Difficult Productivity Software

Applied by Students.

The figure above shows that the mostly used of office applications is Microsoft

Word. There is 37 students from 40 students said that they applied Microsoft Word a

lots in their studies such as make reports or assignments. While, 39 students from 40

students said that Microsoft Excel is the most difficult office applications to be used.

The word difficult here refers either these students feel difficult to use Microsoft

0 10 20 30 40

Mostly use

Difficult to use

Excel

Power Point

Word

4

Excel because of they lack of skills or do not know at all how to use Microsoft

Excel. For example, these students feel difficult to create graphs or charts by using

Microsoft Excel because either they lack of skills or do not know at all how to use

Microsoft Excel.

1.1 Research Questions The research questions of this study are:

• What is the competency level of productivity software – spreadsheet

program of Accounting and Applied Sciences students of UiTM?

• What are the required skills of spreadsheet program for Accounting and

Applied Sciences students of UiTM ?

1.2 Objective of Research The objectives of this research are:

• To assess UiTM’s Accounting and Applied Sciences students competency

with productivity software - spreadsheet program (Microsoft Excel).

• To identify the required skills of spreadsheet program for Accounting and

Applied Sciences students of UiTM.

1.3 Scope of Research This study has been carried out among Accounting and Applied Sciences students

of UiTM Shah Alam. Besides that, this study focused on one of Microsoft Office

Application programs, which is spreadsheet (Microsoft Excel) because both

faculties used Microsoft Excel lots in their learning.

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1.4 Significance of Research

Since in Malaysia nowadays did not have any research papers regarding to this

problem, the finding from this study is hopefully can be used to identify what is

the set of skills for the university needs in order to produce graduates that possess

high skills in spreadsheet. Besides that, information gathered from the finding of

this study is hopefully can help and give benefits to other researchers who

conduct about productivity software literacy among university students in

Malaysia. Besides giving benefits to other researchers, the set of skills which

founded by this study is very important to Accounting and Applied Sciences

fields. For example, accountants need spreadsheet to keep track of all the money

coming into business and all of the payments going out, to calculate profits and

forecast how well they think the business will do during the next year or to

calculate the wages of all the staff each month. Other than that, scientists used

spreadsheets to keep track of their results from experiments or to analyze what

happened with the experiment and also to predict what might happen if they were

to change one variable.

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CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter will explain detail of literature review that is used for this research. The

goal of literature review is to identify a broad range of definitions and concepts that is

related with the research title. It is important for the researcher to understand the

definition and concept in order to discover research problem and ways to achieve the

objectives of this research. The literature review on definition of research title began

with a variety of secondary resources such as online journals, websites and books. It is

also comes from the previous studies regarding the productivity software literacy.

2.0 Definition of Terms

This section contains definition of terms used in this study.

2.0.1 Computer Skills for Undergraduate

According to the study conducted by Richard B. Griffin (1996), the Accounting

faculty at the University of Tennessee at Martin decided to teach a requires senior

level accounting course using computers in 1989. Advanced Accounting was chosen

because the topic of consolidations lends itself to the use of spreadsheets. The

faculty wanted to provide graduates with a working knowledge of computers and

spreadsheets.

In a Cornell University study, Monk et al. (1996) determined that agriculture

graduates should be proficient in word processing, presentation graphics, spreadsheet

analysis, database management, technical graphics, Internet use and electronic mail.

Furthermore, students should be sufficiently comfortable with computer and

information technologies so they can develop new computer skills throughout their

careers. According to Furst-Bowe et al. (1995), researchers at the University of

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Wisconsin-Stout also found that abilities in these same areas are important for

students in a wide variety of majors.

According to the survey to determine the computer tasks conducted on 63 of faculty

members in a college of agriculture by Donald M. Johnson, James A. Ferguson,

Nancy W. Vokins and Melissa L. Lester, (2000) over fifty percents (50%) of the

courses required students to complete one or more tasks in the areas of word

processing, Internet use and electronic mail. Less than fifty percents (50%) of the

courses required any use of spreadsheets, databases, computer graphics, specialized

software, or completion of miscellaneous computer tasks.

Zielinski and Swift (1997) published a list of IT skills for university chemistry

students such as Table 2.1 below:

Table 2.1: List of IT Skills for University Chemistry Students

IT Skills Appropriate For The Undergraduate Electronic-Learning Environment In Chemistry

Electronic mail

Discussion lists; Electronic bulletin boards

Word Processing

Spreadsheets / Graphing

Molecular modeling

World Wide Web searching

In 1996 and 1997, Pennell from the University of Western Sydney, and Blackhurst,

Hales and Lahm from the University of Kentucky published a list of IT skills, which

they believed were necessary for university students to benefit from the modern

electronic-learning environment as Table 2.2 on the next page.

8

Table 2.2: List of IT Skills for the General Undergraduate Electronic-Learning

Environment

IT Skills Appropriate For The General Undergraduate

Electronic-Learning Environment

Electronic mail

- Email attachments

Discussion lists; Electronic bulletin boards

Telnet, FTP or Gopher sites

Web download links

Instructional management systems

Information School of University of Washington (2009) stated that basic knowledge

of computers and standard productivity software are as below:

• Understand the concept and basic functions of an operating system.

• Save to disks, find files, create directories, run or execute programs.

• Copy and paste text, images from one software packages to another.

• Create, edit and save (in various formats) a document using word processing

software.

• Install and uninstall application programs.

• Upload and download software files.

• Extract compressed files.

9

While, according to Wikipedia (2009), computer skills refer to one’s ability to utilize

the software (and sometimes hardware) of a computer. They include:

• Basic computer skills such as knowing how to switch on the computer,

being able to use a mouse to interact with elements on screen, being able

to use the computer keyboard or being able to close down the computer

after use.

• Intermediate skills include being able to use the productivity software

such as word processor, spreadsheets, databases. Besides that being able

to use internet and email.

• Advanced skills include programming and use computer for scientific

research.

2.0.2 Productivity Software

According to PCMAG.COM and ZDNet, productivity software refers to word

processors, spreadsheets, database management systems, PIMs, schedulers and other

software packages that are designed for individual use. It is contrast with custom-

designed information systems that provide the primary data processing in an

organization. While, according to SearchSOA.com, productivity software includes

word processors, spreadsheets and tools for use by most computer users and falls

under application software category. Docstoc.com stated that productivity software

consists of word processing, spreadsheet, database, presentation, graphics, personal

information management, accounting and project management. Usually, the good

example of productivity software is Microsoft Office suite, produced by Microsoft.

Microsoft Office

According to Wikipedia (2008), Microsoft Office is an office suite of interrelated

desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS

X operating systems. Microsoft Office was introduced by Microsoft in 1989 for the

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Mac OS with a version for Windows in 1990. Microsoft Office initially contained

Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint. Additionally, a

Professional version of Office included Microsoft Access and Schedule Plus. Below

is the most popular productivity software offered by Microsoft Office:

1. Microsoft Word is a word processor and was previously considered to be

the main program in Office.

2. Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program. It was originally a competitor to

the dominant Lotus 1-2-3, but it eventually outsold it.

3. Microsoft PowerPoint is a popular presentation program for Windows

and Mac. It is used to create slideshows, composed of text, graphics,

movies and other objects, which can be displayed on-screen and navigated

through by the presenter or printed out on transparencies or slides.

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The Maryland Technology Literacy Standards for Students (MTLSS) (n.d.) article

stated that the productivity software skills required by students are as in the Table

2.3, Table 2.4 and Table 2.5 and it were divided into three levels which are basic,

intermediate and proficient. Basic level is the foundational computer literacy skills,

intermediate level is a computer literacy and competency beyond the foundational

level and proficient level is a computer literacy and competency beyond the

intermediate level applied in educational and work settings.

Table 2.3: List of Skills Using and Creating Spreadsheets

Using and Creating Spreadsheets

Basic Intermediate Proficient

• Select a cell • Enter data into a cell • Format cells and data

- font size - style - color - alignment - decimal places - currency - date/time - percent

• Create a basic chart or graph

• Select multiple cells • Insert, delete, and format

cells, rows, or columns • Format, move, and copy

cells, rows, or columns - width - height - color

• Manage headers and footers

• Select appropriate graph and elements to display data

• Use sort option (ascending and descending)

• Use simple formulas such as sum and average/mean

• Use editing tools such as fill down and fill across

• Set print area and print spreadsheets and graphs

• Insert charts and graphs into other documents

• Apply principles and elements of data analysis

• Create and use spreadsheets for assessment, productivity, and problem solving

• Create complex formulas such as median, mode, and percentage

• Use advanced graph features and elements to display data

• Import or insert other digital elements into the spreadsheet (graphics, movies, objects, etc.)

• Use filter option • Use the hide and

show options • Save in other

formats such as .html, .pdf, etc.

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Table 2.4: List of Skills Creating Multimedia Presentations

Creating Multimedia Presentations


• Apply pre-production organizational concepts (such as storyboarding and visual organizers)

• Open and close a presentation or presentation template

• Save a presentation file

• Create an original presentation or use a template

• Rearrange slides using slide sorter or a storyboard feature to organize a presentation

• Choose a slide format • Use icons and menus • Type/enter text or

create a text box • Change

- Font size - Font type - Style or effects

(bold, underline, etc.)

- Color - Cut, copy, and

paste text - Use undo and

redo icons • Select and resize

graphics, pictures, clipart

• Select multimedia clips or sounds

• Create a new file using Save As

• Use page setup • Print • Use slide show tool

• Select slide transitions and animations

• Insert graphics, clip art, sounds, and multimedia files (including narration)

• Format text - Double spacing - Bullets - Numbers - Alignment - Indention - Outlining - Columns - Text direction - Text art

• Modify the background and layout of presentation slides

• Use the spell check, grammar check, and thesaurus

• Use find, change, and replace tools

• Apply principles and elements of graphic design

• Use tools to rotate, edit, or highlight text

• Insert objects such as graphs, charts, and spreadsheets

• Insert hyperlinks • Use print preview • Print audience handouts

to support a multimedia presentation

• Insert page/slide numbers

• Manage headers and footers

• Edit master slide(s) • Adjust presentation

timing, action buttons, and looping

• Import animations, sounds, and multimedia from other files/applications (such as background music and visual organizers)

• Create presentations using navigation buttons and non-linear design

• Work in various modes/views (such as outline, notes, and presentation)

• Save presentations in other formats (such as HTML)

• Use function keys and keyboard shortcuts

• Adjust page/slide views

• Troubleshoot formatting problems -- use Help feature

• Modify tool bars to reflect current use for tool(s)

• Format text using - Spacing - Line spacing - Margins - Tabs

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Table 2.5: List of Skills Using Word Processing and Desktop Publishing

Using Word Processing and Desktop Publishing


• Start a new document

• Save a document • Use icons and

menus • Type or enter text • Complete a template

or fill in a table • Select text and

change - Font size - Font type - Style or effects

(bold, underline, etc.)

- Color • Cut, copy, and paste

text • Use undo and redo

icons • Select and resize

graphics, pictures, clipart

• Select multimedia clips

• Create a new file using Save As

• Use page setup and print preview

• Print

• Format text, lists, or paragraphs for - Double spacing - Bullets - Numbered lists - Alignment - Indention - Poetic forms - Outlining - Columns - Text direction - Text art - Word wrap

• Use the spell check, grammar check, and thesaurus

• Apply principles and elements of graphic design

• Use find, change, and replace tools

• Use tools to rotate, edit, or highlight text

• Insert graphics and clip art

• Insert text boxes • Create page borders • Insert hyperlinks to

Web sites or other files

• Create columns and tables

• Use sort tool (ascending and descending)

• Use number keys or number pad for mathematical functions

• Insert and edit tables and table layout (borders, shading, column width, etc.)

• Insert animation • Insert sound • Insert spreadsheets,

graphs, and charts • Insert formulas • Save as another

format such as RTF, PDF, or HTML

• Use function keys and keyboard shortcuts

• Adjust page views • Troubleshoot

formatting problems -- use Help feature

• Modify toolbars to reflect current use or purpose for tool(s)

• Use track changes and comments tools

• Customize options and preferences in specific software

• Format text using - Spacing - Line spacing - Justification - Margins - Tabs

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2.0.3 Spreadsheet

According to Wikipedia (2008), the word “spreadsheet” came from “spread” in its

sense of newspaper or magazine item (text and/or graphics) that covers two facing

pages, extending across the center fold and treating the two pages as one large one.

The compound word “spread-sheet” came to mean the format used to present book-

keeping ledgers with columns for categories of expenditures across the top, invoices

listed down the left margin, and the amount of each payment in the cell where its

row and column intersect which were, traditionally, a “spread” across facing pages

of a bound ledger (book for keeping accounting records) or on oversized sheets of

paper ruled into rows and columns in that format and approximately twice as wide as

ordinary paper.

A spreadsheet is a computer application that simulates a paper worksheet. It displays

multiple cells that together make up a grid consisting of rows and columns, each cell

containing either alphanumeric text or numeric values. A spreadsheet cell may

alternatively contain a formula that defines how the contents of that cell is to be

calculated from the contents of any other cell (or combination of cells) each time any

cell is updated. Spreadsheets are frequently used for financial information because of

their ability to re-calculate the entire sheet automatically after a change to a single

cell is made. Microsoft Excel is now considered to have the largest market share on

the Windows and Macintosh platforms. While according to WordWeb, spreadsheet

is a screen-oriented interactive program enabling a user to lay out financial data on

the screen.

Microsoft Excel

According to Wikipedia (2009), Microsoft Excel which is full name Microsoft

Office Excel, is a spreadsheet application written and distributed by Microsoft for

Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot

tables and macro programming language called VBA (Visual Basic for

15

Applications). It has been the most widely used spreadsheet application available for

these platforms since version 5 in 1993. Excel is a part of Microsoft Office.

Excel was the first spreadsheet that allowed the user to define the appearance of

spreadsheets (fonts, character attributes and cell appearance). It also introduced

intelligent cell re-computation where only cells dependent on the cell being modified

are updated (previous spreadsheet programs recomputed everything all the time or

waited for a specific user command). Excel has extensive graphing capabilities and

enable users to perform mail merge.

Figure 2.1: Example of Microsoft Excel screen shot

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2.0.4 People Who Use Spreadsheet

According to WikiAnswers (2009), accountants, teachers, engineers, sales people,

scientists and market researchers are the main groups of people who use spreadsheet

in their jobs. Below are the descriptions what kind of jobs these groups applied for

spreadsheet:

Accountants:

They need to keep track of all the money coming into business and all of the

payments going out.

They need to be able to calculate profits and forecast how well they think the

business will do during the next year.

They also need to calculate the wages of all the staff each month.

Teachers:

Teachers can use spreadsheets to keep track of marks given for homework

and recording exam results and also for registers.

Engineers:

Engineers need to perform thousands of calculations when designing bridges,

buildings, aero planes, or cars.

They need to make sure that bridges will be able to support themselves and

will not collapse under the weight of traffic or the force of strong winds.

They need to work out how deep the foundations of a house need to be in

order to support the walls and roof. They need to make sure that the

aerodynamics of a plane will enable it to take off and fly.

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Sales people:

Sales people use spreadsheets to keep track of the items they sell, the value of

the items, the profit made on each item and more importantly, the

commission they have earned.

Scientists:

Scientists need to be able to keep track of their results from experiments.

They use spreadsheets to help them to analyze what happened with the

experiment and also to predict what might happen if they were to change one

variable.

Market researchers:

Market researchers collect data from shoppers about their spending habits

and their awareness of different brands. All of this data has to be collated and

analyzed in order to provide the company with a detailed report of what

customers think about their products.

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CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter explains on how the research has been conducted and describes the

methodology that has been implemented throughout the research. It also tells in detail on

each methodology used and how the data has been gathered as well as analyzed.

Collecting of data consists of two types of data which are the primary data and

secondary data. In addition, it is important to identify the processes of collecting data to

achieve the objective research.

3.0 Data Collection

3.0.1 Primary Data

In order to get further information for this research, questionnaires, experiment and

interviews will be conducted among the UiTM Shah Alam’s Accounting and

Applied Sciences students. A pre-study has been conducted before this using

questionnaires and interviews to get some data to support the research. In order to

achieve the first objective, questionnaires and interviews will be conducted again so

that we can get more accurate result than the pre-study result.

3.0.2 Secondary Data

The secondary data will be obtained through reading the information resources such

as journals, books, articles and magazines, unpublished thesis, seminar papers and

related websites. It is very important for literature reviews that can give an extra

information or knowledge to researchers about the topic or study that has been done

previously by other researchers. The literature reviews that has been implemented

was focus on productivity software skills among university students.

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3.1 Selection of Research Method

The various research method available must be chose carefully as a purpose to find out

the right data for the answer to the research problem of the thesis. Different research

approaches can be used simultaneously such as qualitative research (used to describe

certain types of information), quantitative research (discrete or attribute data and

continuous or variable data), historical research (historical data) and case study

(investigate a phenomenon within its real-life context).

3.1.1 Experiment

Experiment is conducted with one or more variables that are manipulated and the

results are analyzed. A study of the most frequently used data gathering methods in

major academic journals by Kamhawi and Weaver (2003) found that the experiment

accounted for only 11% of the research techniques published from 1980 until 1984

but rose to 21% of the techniques published from 1995 until 1999. According to

Roger D. Wimmer and Joseph R. Dominick, writers of An Introduction of Mass

Media Research (2006), experiment can give evidence the causality to researchers.

The experimental method involves both manipulation and observation. In the

simplest form of an experiment, researchers manipulate the independent variable and

then observe the responses of subjects on the dependent variable.

3.1.2 Questionnaire

Questionnaire is a form containing a list of questions that means of gathering

information for survey. In this study, the availability to choose questionnaire as a

method because questionnaire generally collect information relatively quick than

other methods. Brehob (2001) noted that a questionnaire to be “a form that people

fill out, used to obtain demographic information and views and interest of those

questions”.

20

3.1.3 Interviews

The purpose of interview is to provide researcher with a relatively flexible format for

the gathering of data. It is a technique widely used in the clinical and health sciences.

Interviews are usually thought of structured or unstructured though the terms like

guided and open-ended are also used. Interview is a process of collection data face-

to-face. Interviews help respondents to share their impressions or opinions easier.

21

3.2 Flow Chart of Research Methodology

Figure 3.1: The Flow Chart of Research Methodology

PHASES ACTIVITY DELIVERABLE

1.

Planning Research

Method: Pre-Research

• Research problem statement

• Research questions

• Research objectives

• Research significance

• Research scope

Identification of research problems, research questions, objectives, significance and scope.

2.

Literature Review

Method: Pre-Research

• Key concept

Identification of concept to be considered (definition of productivity software, Microsoft Office, spreadsheet, Microsoft Excel, computer skills).

The previous study on productivity software literacy among students.

3.

Data Collection and Analysis

Objective 1:

To assess UiTM’s Accounting and Applied Sciences students competency with productivity software - spreadsheet program (Microsoft Excel).

Method: Questionnaire, interview and experiment.

Data analysis: Descriptive analysis.

Task: Gathering information about students competency with productivity software, spreadsheet (Microsoft Excel).

Objectives 2: To identify the required skills of spreadsheet program for Accounting and Applied Sciences students of UiTM. Method: Questionnaire, interview and experiment.

Data analysis: Descriptive analysis

Task: Gathering information and identify set of skills.

Objective 1:

Students competency with productivity software.

Objective 2:

Set of skills.

4.

Documentation Produce report Report

22

3.3 Phases of Research Methodology

In order to conduct this research, there are four (4) phases in the research methodology

will be used in the data collection. These phases consist of Planning Research phase,

Literature Review phase, Data Collection and Analysis phase and finally Documentation

phase.

3.3.1 Planning Research Phase

In the planning research phase, a pre-study has been conducted to get research

problem statement, research questions, research objectives, significance of research

and the scope of the research. Deliverables from this activity were the identification

of problem(s), objective(s), significance and scope of the research.

3.3.2 Literature Review Phase

The purpose of this phase is to examine relevant literature in the field with a view to

summarize the important papers and to give an indication of how the study has

developed from the previous studies. The deliverable from the literature review is

key concept and previous study’s findings from other researchers that can be

guidance.

3.3.3 Data Collection and Analysis Phase

The purpose of this phase is to collect data to achieve the objective(s) of the

research. The information about the tasks required the use of spreadsheets which

usually done by students of Accounting and Applied Sciences was gathered by

distributing 40 sets of questionnaires to Accounting and Applied Sciences students

of UiTM. Besides distributing questionnaires, interviews also were conducted among

Accounting and Applied Sciences students in order to get deeper understanding in

problems they faced with spreadsheets. Based on the result of questionnaire and

interviews, an experiment was conducted to 11 students of Accounting and Applied

Sciences of UiTM Shah Alam at the Computer Lab 2 of Melati College Computer

23

Club. Each of these 11 students were given a booklet contained 3 sections, which

were Section A, Section B and Section C. Section A required students to do

formatting table and do some calculations such as calculate total and average. In

Section B, students were required to create pie chart and graph by using table in

Section A. Lastly, in Section C, students required to do a balance sheet. Accounting

students were required to do all of the 3 sections, but Applied Sciences students were

only required to do 2 sections because they do not involve in doing accounting. In

order to know the level of competency of these 11 students, their answers for the

experiment questions were analyzed. Besides that, in order to find out for UiTM

what are the set of spreadsheet skills needed by Accounting and Applied Sciences

students, the gathered data was studied and integrated.

3.3.4 Documentation Phase

Finally, in this phase, all the analyzed information will be documented in the form of

paper. The deliverable of this phase will be a final report.

24

CHAPTER 4

DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

This chapter discussed the findings and results which are derived from collected data.

These collected data were getting from questionnaires, interviews and experiment which

has been analyzed and studied. The respondents are from Accounting and Applied

Sciences students of UiTM.

4.0 Analysis Of Category Of Tasks That Mostly Students Need To

Apply Microsoft Excel

In order to conduct an experiment regarding the usage of Microsoft Excel in study of

Accounting and Applied Sciences students, this study needs to identified several

categories of tasks that the respondents applied Microsoft Excel. From the early

interviews that have been conducted randomly among Accounting and Applied Sciences

students, there were several categories of tasks that mostly students need to apply

Microsoft Excel had been identified. Then, in order to established these identified

categories, second questionnaire has been distributed. About 40 questionnaires have

been distributed among these students and these two faculties have been given 20

questionnaires each. Students of semester 3 and above are selected from each of

faculties to become respondents. The reason this study chose students of semester 3 and

above to become respondents because these students mostly had experiences in applying

Microsoft Excel in their studies.

After analyzing the data collected from these 40 respondents, this study indicates that

calculations, create tables, create graphs or charts and accounting are categories of tasks

that Accounting and Applied Sciences students need to apply Microsoft Excel. For both

faculties, calculation is where the students calculate the sum or average of given data.

25

Then, after getting the sum or average of given data, the students will use it to generate

graphs or charts. Mostly, Applied Sciences students generate graphs in order to see the

reaction of chemicals from their experiments. In order to present the collected or given

data in tables, Applied Sciences students applied Microsoft Excel to create tables.

Lastly, most of Accounting students applied Microsoft Excel in order to do accounting

such as preparing balance sheets or financial and accounting reports. Below is the Table

4.1 and on the next page is Figure 4.1 that shows the figure of students that applied

Microsoft Excel in several categories of works.

Table 4.1: Category of Tasks

Course Category of Tasks

CalculationCreate Chart &

Graph Create Tables Accounting Others

AS 16 19 15 0 2

AC 18 7 12 16 1

Total 34 26 27 16 3

26

Figure 4.1: Category of Tasks Applied by Accounting and Applied Sciences Students

Figure 4.1 indicates that calculation task has the highest figures. About 34 of 40 students

from both faculties applied Microsoft Excel for doing calculation. The second category

is create tables, which were 27 of 40 students used Microsoft Excel to create tables. Next

is followed by create chart and graph which is 26 students. This study indicates that

students from Applied Sciences used Microsoft Excel more than Accounting students to

create graph and chart. Then, for accounting, 16 of 20 students from Accounting Faculty

used Microsoft Excel to make accounting. Lastly, for other works such as making

financial club report where Microsoft Excel is needed is only 3 students.

27

Below are pie charts which are illustrated from Table 4.1.

Figure 4.2: Category of Tasks Applied by Applied Sciences Students

In the figure above, the task of create chart and graph has the highest number which is

19 students. This task seems to be the highest because they used spreadsheets to generate

graphs or charts, in order to help them analyze what happened with the experiments and

also to predict what might happen if they were to change one variable. Next, it is

followed by calculation task where Applied Sciences students used spreadsheets to

calculate average, the chemical concentrations or the rate of chemical reactions. Then,

the figure shows that 15 students used spreadsheets to create tables and 2 students used

spreadsheets to make financial report of their clubs.

28

Figure 4.3: Category of Tasks Applied by Accounting Students

In the figure above, it indicates that calculation task with the highest number of students

which is 18 students. Accounting students used spreadsheets to calculate such as sales,

wages or the average of sales. Then, it followed by accounting task which is 16 students.

In accounting task, they usually used spreadsheets to make balance sheets. Next, the

figure shows that create tables task is 12 students, create chart and graphs with 7

students and 1 students used for other task.

29

4.1 Analysis of Subjects That Required Students to Apply Microsoft

Excel

Besides establishing category of works that need students to apply Microsoft Excel, this

study also can indicate list of subjects that involved students to apply spreadsheets from

second questionnaire. Table 4.2 and Table 4.3 below shows the lists of subjects that

required students of Accounting and Applied Sciences to use Microsoft Excel.

Table 4.2: List of Subjects That Accounting Students Applied Microsoft Excel

NO SUBJECT

CODE SUBJECT NAME

1 AIS 130 Application Of Information System

2 AIS 510 Accounting Information System

3 FAR 315 Accounting And Reporting 4 FAR 265

5 FAR 430

6 FAR 265 Financial Accounting Report 7 FAR 315

8 TAX 320 Taxation 9 TAX 390

10 TAX 490 Advanced Taxation

11 MAF 325 Cost And Management Accounting

12 MAF 330 Finance And Management

13 ETR 300 Entrepreneurship

14 MAT 126 Business Mathematics

15 BEL 442 Research And Report Writing

30

Table 4.3: List of Subjects That Applied Sciences Students Applied Microsoft Excel

NO SUBJECT

CODE SUBJECT NAME

1 CMT 651 Quality Assurance & Control

2 BIO 610 Biological Statistic And Analysis

3 BIO 510 Ecology

4 BIO 611 Plant Physiology

5 CMT 661 Kinetic Technology

6 CHM 580 Spectroscopy

7 CHM 454 Physical Chemistry I

8 CHM 472 Physical Chemistry Ii

9 CMT 619 Thesis I

10 CMT 679 Thesis Ii

11 CHM 575 Special Topic

12 OPM 530 Operation Management

13 QMT 405 Statistic

14 PHY 658 Physics

15 CMT 463 Unit Operation

16 CHM 421 Chemical Analysis

17 CHM 510 Analytical Seperation Techniques

18 PHY 420 Physics (Introduction)

19 BEL 442 Report Writing

20 BEL 462 Critical Thinking

31

Below is the Figure 4.4 that shows the total number of subjects which required

Accounting and Applied Sciences students to apply Microsoft Excel.

Figure 4.4: Total Number of Subjects Need To Apply Microsoft Excel for Accounting

and Applied Sciences Students

The above figure indicate that 15 subjects of Accounting students required them to apply

Microsoft Excel. Then, 20 subjects of Applied Sciences students required them to apply

Microsoft Excel. The total up from these two faculties is 35 subjects which it seems

quite a lot of subjects that need students to apply Microsoft Excel.

32

4.2 Experiment to Analyze Students’ Ability to Use Microsoft Excel

After analyzing second questionnaire result, this study had found a suitable category of

works that students usually applied Microsoft Excel. As mentioned before, in order to

conduct an experiment to analyze students’ ability to use Microsoft Excel, this study

needs to identify what are the category of tasks students usually did in their studies.

Calculation, create tables, create graphs and charts and accounting are the category of

tasks that students usually did in their studies which required them to use Microsoft

Excel. There were 20 students from both have been invited to do the experiment. But,

only 11 students managed to come for the experiment. 6 students were from Accounting

Faculty and 5 students were from Applied Sciences Faculty.

This experiment was collaborated with Melati College Computer Club (MCC). MCC

gave permission to conduct this experiment at their Computer Lab 2, Melati College.

Each students who came for this experiment will be given a booklet contained 3 sections

which were Section A, Section B and Section C (please refer to Appendix). Section A

consists of 2 questions that required students to calculate sums, average, formatting the

numbers and tables. In Section B, there were 2 questions about creating graph and pie

chart. Then, Section C was exclusively for Accounting students which required them to

do a balance sheet. An Applied Sciences students need to answer questions in Section A

and B, while the Accounting students need to answer questions in Section A, B and C.

After students answering those questions, they need to fill in the checklist whether they

able to solve those questions and give the rating of questions’ difficulties with the given

rating.

According to the experiment which was conducted on 15th October 2009, all of students

who took part in the experiment did not successfully answer those questions correctly.

As the experiment conducted, some observation and interviews which helped this study

to identify what were the problems respondents faced had been done. Most of

respondents did not familiar with Microsoft Excel 2003 because most of respondents

started to use with Microsoft Excel 2007 which was more simplified than 2003 version.

33

So, respondents felt very difficult using 2003 version and some of respondents gave up

to answer those questions although those questions were easy for them.

Figure 4.5: Experiment Result for Question 1 – Calculations and Formatting Tables

The figure above shows the graph of student’s rating of question difficulties for

Question 1 and the graph of ability to solve Question 1. As stated before, Question 1 was

required these students to do calculations and formatting tables and numbers. The graph

of student’s rating of question difficulties for Question 1 indicates that most of students

rated that this question was easy and easy. But, even most of these students rated that

this question easy, most of them solve with the wrong answer because the graph of

34

ability to solve this question indicates that 6 students from 11 students solved this

question with the wrong answers and 3 students tried to solve the question but did not

get the answer. Only 2 students managed to solve the question with the right answers.

By comparing the given answers and the students’ rating of question difficulties, it

shows that these students do not have required spreadsheets skills to answer this

question although most of them rated this question as easy and very easy question.

From my analysis of those answers given from respondents, this study found that:

i. Respondents did not know how to format the number into currency

format.

ii. Respondents did not know how to create or use formula.

iii. Besides that, some of respondents did not know how to generate graph or

chart from the data in the table.

35

Figure 4.6: Experiment Result for Question 2 – Calculations and Formatting Tables

The figure above shows the experiment result for Question 2 which required students to

do calculations and formatting tables and numbers. The graph of ability to answer this

question shows that there is no students can solve this question with the right answer.

Most of these students tried to solve this question but do not get the right answer. The

graph of ability also shows that there is 1 student do not know how to solve this question

and 3 students solved it with the wrong answers. Although the graph of student’s rating

for question’s difficulties for this question indicates that there are 5 students who rated

this question easy and very easy, but there is no students who give the right answers.

36

This shows that these students do not possess the spreadsheet skills to answer

calculations and formatting tables and numbers questions.

Figure 4.7: Experiment Result for Question Create Pie Chart

The figure above shows that the result for experiment of creating pie chart. The graph of

student’s rating about question’s difficulties indicates that 5 students rated this question

as an easy question. But, only 3 students managed to solve it with the right answer as

shown in the graph of the ability to create pie chart. The figure also shows that 3

students do not know how to solve this question and 5 students did not get the right

37

answer. This shows that these students lack of skills in creating pie chart using Microsoft

Excel.

Figure 4.8: Experiment Result for Question Create Graph

The figure above shows that these 11 students lack of spreadsheet skills in creating

graph. This is because, there is only 3 students who managed to answer this question

with the right answer as shown in the graph of ability to create graph. Most of students

which is 8 students did not get the right answer, solved with the wrong answer and there

is also students who do not know who to create graph using Microsoft Excel.

38

Figure 4.9: Experiment Result for Question Section C – Balance Sheet

The figure above shows the result for experiment of Section C. Section C was required

only the Accounting students to answer. This section required the Accounting students

to make balance sheet. Only 1 student can solve this question with the right answer. Half

of these students which are 3 students did not know how to solve this question as shown

in the graph of the ability to answer this question. This indicates that students from

Accounting Faculty lack of spreadsheet skills in creating the balance sheet using

spreadsheet.

39

4.3 The Identified Required Skills of Spreadsheet Program for

Accounting and Applied Sciences Students

In order to overcome problems that this study identified in the experiment such as do not

how to create graph or do not know to change the appropriate format for number, the set

of skills for spreadsheet program has been found out from this study. This set of skills

will be proposed to UiTM in order to help UiTM to improve and increase the efficiency

level of Accounting and Applied Sciences students. As mentioned earlier in the result of

category of works need students to apply Microsoft Excel, works such as calculation,

create chart and graphs, create tables and accounting are important because most of

these works need to be done by students of the Accounting and Applied Sciences

students. The Accounting and Applied Sciences students need to be competence and

have abilities to do all these works in order to do well in their studies. Below are the set

of skills of spreadsheet program that has been identified for UiTM to stress on in

teaching Microsoft Excel for Accounting and Applied Sciences students.

• Calculation Techniques

• Create Tables Techniques

• Create Chart and Graph Techniques

• Extra knowledge: Accounting Techniques

Set of Skills for Spreadsheet Program

Needed By

Applied Sciences Students

Figure 4.10: Set of Skills of Spreadsheet for Applied Sciences students

40

The above figure (Figure 4.10) indicates the set of skills of spreadsheet for Applied

Sciences students. This set of skills stresses on teaching calculation techniques, create

table techniques, and create charts and graphs techniques. Calculation techniques

consists of on how to generate formulas and use given formulas. Most of Applied

Sciences students required to do calculation such as average, find minimum and

maximum values for their experiments in order to get results. When Applied Sciences

students know how to generate and use the formulas, students can use Microsoft Excel

easily to get the average, sums or counting data. This will help Applied Sciences

students to do their work efficiently.

Besides that, this set of skills stresses on create tables techniques. Usually, students of

Applied Sciences need to use Microsoft Excel in order to create tables for the data they

collected in their experiments to present the data in a manageable way. In create tables

techniques, Applied Sciences students should be teached how to format cells with

appropriate format such as 2 decimals places format. Other than that, Applied Sciences

students should be teached on how to create headers for tables or how to format the texts

so that tables look attractive for their presentations. Then, the figure above indicate that

Applied Sciences students need the skill to create charts and graphs. From this study, it

is found that Applied Sciences students used graphs widely in studies to show results

from experiments especially when do experiments for thesis.

Lastly, UiTM can include extra knowledge in using Microsoft Excel for Applied

Sciences students such as teaching on how to do simple accounting using Microsoft

Excel. By teaching this extra knowledge, Applied Sciences students maybe can apply

this extra knowledge in other subjects or maybe can apply it when they are working

someday.

41



• Create Chart and Graph Techniques

• Accounting Techniques

Set of Skills for Spreadsheet Program

Needed By

Accounting Students

Figure 4.11: Set of Skills of Spreadsheet for Accounting students

For Accounting students, the figure above shows that calculation techniques, create table

techniques, create charts and graphs techniques, and accounting techniques should be

included in teaching Microsoft Excel. As Applied Sciences students, Accounting

students need to know how to generate and use formulas in order to get sums of sales or

profits, average of sales or profits or maybe calculating the wages for employees.

Then, the Accounting students need to be teached on how to create attractive tables

because Accounting students need to create tables with appropriate cell formats such as

for currency format in order to use formulas and present their accounting data with

attractive tables. Besides teaching on how to create tables, Accounting students should

also learn on how to create graphs and charts so that they can present their data in

attractive ways. Instead of displaying data using tables, Accounting students can also

present their data using charts and graphs if they know how to create graphs and charts.

Finally, the Accounting students need to learn to use Microsoft Excel for accounting

such as make balance sheets or making financial and accounting reports. According the

42

previous interviews made to Accounting students, the students said that they need to

know how to use Microsoft Excel because most of Accounting subjects required them to

use Microsoft Excel.

In order to sharpened students skills in spreadsheet, lecturers should conduct several

laboratory’s tests and give lab’s exercises so that students can remember well what they

learn in their classes. Besides that, lecturers can determine the level of competency of

students with Microsoft Excel. Other than that, students should also been teached to use

the latest version of Microsoft Excel because the latest version is more user friendly and

more simplified than the older versions.

43

CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

This chapter summarized and conclude the objective that has been defined earlier in this

thesis. In this chapter also explain what has been accomplished and what are the major

things learned from this study. Other than that, there is mentioning about limitation of

research and there is recommend work that can still be done on the further exploration.

5.0 Conclusion

From this study, the level of Accounting and Applied Sciences students competency in

productivity software skills especially in spreadsheet is still cannot be satisfied because

they did not achieve the minimum level of skills. This study indicates that most of

students cannot give the right answers and even some of the students cannot answer

those questions although those questions were basic and easy questions which is for the

beginner level. The Accounting and Applied Sciences students competencies must be

improved so that the students can do well in studies. Besides that, by improving students

skills, students can fulfill the skills in their job’s requirements as mentioned by Johnson,

Bartholomew and Miller (2006) stated that employers continue to rate these desirable.

Nowadays, employers desired employees with skills in productivity software. So, in

order to help the Accounting and Applied Sciences students in their studies, UiTM

should use and stress on this set of skills in teaching Microsoft Excel as illustrated in

Figure 5.0 Lastly, hope that this study will help UiTM to make improvement in order to

produce students that possess high skills in productivity software.

44

Figure 5.0: Set of Skills of Spreadsheet for Accounting and Applied Sciences students

5.1 Limitation of Research

The set of skills for spreadsheet presented based on surveys and experiment which were

conducted in UiTM, among Accounting and Applied Sciences students. It was supposed

about 20 students should attend for the experiment, but only 11 students managed to

attend the experiment. The major constraint in this research is to get full cooperation

with students in order to do this experiment. Some of the students did not take serious

and did not read and do those given questions carefully. Besides that, time is one of the

constraint for this study. This study actually needs longer times and more respondents so

that it can produce accurate result than this.

Set of Skills for Applied Sciences Students:



• Create Charts and Graphs Techniques

• Extra knowledge such as Accounting Techniques

Set of Skills for Accounting Students:



• Create Charts and Graphs Techniques

• Accounting Techniques

45

5.2 Recommendation

The productivity software skills are important to students. It will be good if UiTM can

look at these problems and take appropriate actions in order to help students, not only at

Accounting and Applied Sciences students and not only look at Microsoft Excel skills,

but also look at problems that arise from other students from different faculties and look

at for other important productivity software skills problems. There would be lots of

benefits to students if UiTM improved its methods in teaching those productivity

software skills.

5.3 Suggestion for Further Research

It would be interesting to study deeper in productivity software skills problems because

when deeper study is conducted, this study can identify more interesting problems and

more solutions can be founded. Researching with a wide range of students can give more

accurate results and conducting several experiments will help this study to find the

causes and effects of t problems. Besides that, it can identify what is the best set of skills

to be used in order to overcome problems.

46

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APPENDICES

Appendix A – Pre Study Questionnaire

I’m Wan Natasha Elaiza, a student of Bachelor of Science (Hons) Business Computing from the Faculty of Computer Science and Mathematics would like to make a survey regarding the usage of Microsoft Office among UiTM students. Please answer the following questions.

1. You are from program ________________________.

2. Have you ever use Microsoft Office software?

3. If you used Microsoft Office, which of these you used the most? (Please (√) ONE only)

4. Which of these THREE you think is very difficult to use? (Please (√) ONE only)

5. From your answer of question 4, why do you think it is difficult for you to use? Give the reason(s).

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

6. Have you ever taken a basic subject of computing which related to this Microsoft Office Software before? (If Yes please state the course code or course name) _________________

Yes No (Session End)

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Power Point

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Power Point

Microsoft Excel

Yes No

7. If you have problems to do your assignment which is required you to use one of these THREE software, what would you do?

_____________________________________________________________

Appendix B – Second Questionnaire

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA


Project Title:


Questionnaire

Objective:

To make a survey regarding the usage of Microsoft Excel among Accounting and Applied Science students of UiTM.

Prepared By:

Wan Natasha Elaiza Binti Wan Norzailan

(2007123833)

Final year student : Bachelor of Science (Hons) Business Computing

(CS224)

No:


Section A – Respondent Information

This section of questionnaire refers to respondent information. We assure you

that your response will remain anonymous. Your cooperation is appreciated.

Kindly, please answer the following questions by ticking (√) the relevant answer

or writing down your answer at the space provided.

1. Which category do you belong?

2. What is your program name?

_______________________________________________________.

3. What is your program code?

______________________.

4. Currently, you are in semester ……………

5. Have you ever apply Microsoft Excel in your study?

Accounting Student

Applied Science Student

1

2

3

4

5

6

Others, please specify

_____

Yes

No

(Please proceed to the next section)

(Session end. Thank you)

Section B – The Usage of Microsoft Excel

This section of questionnaire refers to the usage of Microsoft Excel of respondent.

For the question 6, please tick (√) whether you use Microsoft Excel in each

semester and rate the usage of Microsoft Excel in your study for each semester.

You will be given rating from 1 until 5 and please circle the rating that you

choose based on the instruction below.

6. Do you use Microsoft Excel in your study for:

Semester Yes No Rate of Usage

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

> Part 6

Rating for usage of Microsoft Excel in your study:

1- Never use 3- Often use 5- Highly use

2- Seldom use 4- Mostly use

1 2 3 4 5

1 2 3 4 5

1 2 3 4 5

1 2 3 4 5

1 2 3 4 5

1 2 3 4 5

1 2 3 4 5

7. In what subject (s) do you need to apply Microsoft Excel?

For the question 8, you may choose more than one answer.

8. Where do you need to apply Microsoft Excel in your study?

End of Question

Subject Code Subject Name

(For example: You apply Microsoft Excel in your study to make graph)

Calculation

(Please state subject code (s) and full name of subject (s))

Create chart/ graph

Create tables

Accounting

Others, please specify

______________________________

Appendix C – Experiment Booklet

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA


Cooperated With:

Project Title:


Experiment

Objective:

To know the proficiency level of Microsoft Excel among Accounting and Applied Science students of UiTM.

Prepared By:

Wan Natasha Elaiza Binti Wan Norzailan (2007123833)

Final year student : Bachelor of Science (Hons) Business Computing

Pc No:

Faculty of Computer Science and Mathematics Cooperated with:

SECTION A – CALCULATION

QUESTION 1

Type in the following spreadsheet, and format it to look like the sample below.

Instructions

1) Type in all text and numbers shown in the spreadsheet below.

2) Format all numbers as a currency.

3) Center the spreadsheet heading 'Sales And Produce Department' across the

spreadsheet.

4) Format all text as displayed in the sample below.

5) Create formula's to display a total for each fruit.

6) Create formula's to display a total for each month.

7) Create a formula to calculate the total sales for all fruit items for the year to date.

8) Please save the file as secA-q1[pcNo].xls.

Sample 1


QUESTION 2

Type in the following spreadsheet, and format it to look like the Sample 2 below.

Instructions


2) Format all numbers with appropriate format's.

3) Center the spreadsheet heading "Mike's Lunch Bar" across the spreadsheet.


5) Create formula's to display a total sales for each item in the Lunch Bar.

6) Create a formula to calculate the total sales and the average of total sales for the

Lunch Bar.

7) Apply all borders and shading (colour) shown in the sample below, feel free to

experiment with your own colour schemes.

8) Please save the file as secA-q2[pcNo].xls.


Sample 2


SECTION B – CREATE CHART OR GRAPH

Use the Fruit Sales spreadsheet created in the Section A – Question 1, to create the

Pie Chart below as Sample 3 and create Graph as Sample 4 below.

Please save the file as secB-chart[pcNo].xls for chart and secB-graph[pcNo].xls for

graph.

Sample 3

Sample 4


SECTION C – ACCOUNTING (for Accounting students only)

Type in the following Information 1 into spreadsheet, and format it to look like the

Sample 5 below.

Sure Balance Company

Date Item Description Debit Credit

30/1/2009 January Paycheck 1795.86

1/2/2009 Shell Oil Co. 42.64

1/2/2009 Pink Palace Enter. 87.34

4/2/2009 Cash (Auto Teller) 50

6/2/2009 Dr. D.J. Houston 75

7/2/2009 Rent 800

10/2/2009 Drug Sales 2500

11/2/2009 Bail (Drug Arrest) 500

12/2/2009 Benny The Weasel 3200

14/2/2009 Rainy Day Quarter Fund 500

Information 1


Instructions


2) Format all numbers with appropriate format's.

3) Center the spreadsheet heading "Sure Balance Checkbook" across the spreadsheet.


5) Create formula's to calculate the balance sheet for Sure Balance Company.

6) Please save the file as secC[pcNo].xls.

Sample 5


SECTION D – CHECKLIST

This section requires student to fill those checklist regarding to your experience

answering questions from Section A to Section C. Your cooperation is appreciated.

Kindly, please fill the checklist by ticking (√) and give rating to question’s difficulties.

Section A I do not know how to solve

I have tried to solve but I do

not get the answer

I solve it Rate of Question’s Difficulties

Question 1

Question 2

Section B I do not know how to solve

I have tried to solve but I do

not get the answer


Pie Chart

Graph

Rating of Question’s Difficulties:

1- Very difficult. 4- Easy.

2- Difficult. 5- Very easy.

3- Neutral.


Section C I do not know how to solve

I have tried to solve but I do not

get the answer


Balance

Sheet

LIST NAMES OF STUDENTS INVOLVED IN EXPERIMENT

Date: 15th October 2009

Venue: Computer Lab 2, Kolej Melati, UiTM.

Time: 11.00 pm – 12.30 pm

No Pc No Name Matric No Course Code 1 31 NORDIAH BINTI YAHYA 2007126367 AS 225 2 31 NOOR BAIDAH ABDUL AZIS 2007267972 AC 220 3 32 SURAINI ZAKARIA 2007124357 AS 202 4 33 NUR AZUANIE ZULKEFLEE 2007267744 AC 220 5 33 SITI NORHAYATY BINTI MD

SUPAAT 2008778001 AS 229

6 35 SITI NURHAFIZAH BT AHMAD SHUKUR

2007268006 AC 220

7 40 ROZAIBAAH CHE AMAT 2007268266 AC 220 8 43 SITI SALWA ZAKARIAH 2007267972 AC 220 9 44 RAIHAN ZALIKHA ANWAR 2007280432 AS 225 10 45 NORAZLIN BINTI MOHAMAD

TASLIM 2007268428 AC 220

11 48 ERDA SYERENA BINTI ROSLI 2007280032 AS 201

Documents

Thesis Report