Within site and between site nested analysis of variance (ANOVA) for Geochemical Surveys using MS EXCEL

Abstract

This report describes a method of nested analysis of variance (ANOVA) using a visual basic macro in Microsoft EXCEL 2000. Nested ANOVA analysis is used in geochemical surveys to test the suitability of the sampling and analytical methodology and quantifies the within site and between site variability. If the between site variability is greater than the within site variability then the survey methodology is satisfactory. BGS uses this quality control procedure for its national and international geochemical surveys. However, the restricted availability of specialist statistical software to do nested ANOVA has often resulted in a variety of software packages being used for different projects. This report describes a method of nested ANOVA that can be done using the widely available Microsoft EXCEL. Data input format and result reporting is similar to that used on the Geochemical Baseline Survey of the Environment (G-BASE) Project