 in number of pirates). Second, CORREL assumes a linear relationship between the datasets you’re cross-correlating, so it can give wrong answers when there’s a non-linear relationship. But CORREL is still a good starting point for figuring out where you need to ask more questions.
Spreadsheet programs can be very powerful tools for quickly and easily checking claims based on statistical analyses of data. While I used a climate-based example, the same approach can be taken with regard to nearly any source of data, and I’ve used similar analyses to sanity-check health and economic data in the past.
* From the quarterly newsletter SEJournal, Summer 2011 issue.