This tutorial demonstrates how to compute means and standard deviations in Excel in order to evaluate subject matter expert (SME) criticality ratings from a task-KSAO analysis, which is a specific job analysis framework.

In the context of SME criticality ratings, when determining which tasks (or KSAOs) are most critical, choose the tasks (or KSAOs) with the highest means. If two or more means are equal, use the SD as a tie-breaker, such that when means are equal choose the task (or KSAO) with the lower SD as this indicates higher agreement that the task (or KSAO) is more critical.

When determining which tasks (or KSAOs) are least critical, choose the tasks (or KSAOs) with the lowest means. If two or more means are equal, use the SD as a tie-breaker, such that when means are equal choose the task (or KSAO) with the lower SD as this indicates higher agreement that the task (or KSAO) is not as critical.