A Practical Guide to Computing Cronbach’s

Alpha in Excel
PJ Baldonado, *

February 2025

*this document is created primarily with the help of ChatGPT AI (I checked the accuracy and consistency
of its answers and looked for and tried to correct some minor errors, gave some comments and additional
info, and provided the excel screenshots)

Introduction
This document provides a step-by-step, practical guide on how to compute Cronbach’s Alpha using the
original formula:
k 2 σij
ρT = 2 ,
σX
where:
• k is the number of items (questions in a questionnaire),
• σij is the average covariance between all unique pairs of items,
• σX
2
is the variance of the total scores (i.e., the variance of the sum of all items for each respondent).
In our example, we assume a questionnaire with 5 questions (items) and responses from 7 respon-
dents. The guide explains how to use Excel functions and formulas to obtain the necessary values.

Sample Questionnaire:
Imagine you want to measure “Customer Satisfaction” with your product. You can create a questionnaire
with 5 items (questions) answered on a Likert scale (1 = Strongly Disagree, 5 = Strongly Agree):

Q1: I am satisfied with the quality of the product.

Q2: The product meets my expectations.
Q3: The customer service is excellent.
Q4: The product is good value for money.
Q5: I would recommend the product to others.

Step 1: Enter Your Data

Set up your Excel spreadsheet with rows for each respondent and columns for each item. For example,
enter the following data:

Excel Data Table:

1
 Respondent Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5
1 4 5 4 3 4
2 3 4 3 4 3
3 5 5 4 4 5
4 2 3 3 2 3
5 4 4 4 4 4
6 3 3 2 3 2
7 4 5 5 4 4

Step 2: Compute Covariances Between Items

2.1 Calculate Pairwise Covariances
For each unique pair of items, use Excel’s sample covariance function. For example, to compute the
covariance between Q1 and Q2 (Q1 data is in cells B2:B8 and Q2 in C2:C8 as seen in the pic), enter this
formula in J2 cell:
=COVARIANCE.S(B2:B8, C2:C8)

Repeat this for every unique pair of question number:

• Q1–Q2 (or σ12 ), Q1–Q3 (σ13 ), Q1–Q4 (σ14 ), Q1–Q5 (σ15 ),
• Q2–Q3 (σ23 ), Q2–Q4 (σ24 ), Q2–Q5 (σ25 ),
• Q3–Q4 (σ34 ), Q3–Q5 (σ35 ),
• Q4–Q5 (σ45 ).

2
 So for an additional example, if you calculate the covariance of Q3 and Q4, you enter this in cell
L4 (the cell which corresponds to Q3 row and Q4 column): COVARIANCE.S(D2:D8, E2:E8). (The D2:D8
corresponds to Q3 and E2:E8 corresponds to Q4).

2.2 Create a Covariance Matrix (Illustrative Example)

After computing, you might obtain a covariance matrix similar to the following (sample values) (in my
opinion, you may or may not include the values on the lower left of the matrix if your goal is only to obtain
the average value, as they are the same and mirror image of the upper right values):

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5
Q1 – 0.7381 0.6190 0.5476 0.7857
Q2 0.7381 – 0.7381 0.4286 0.7381
Q3 0.6190 0.7381 – 0.3809 0.7857
Q4 0.5476 0.4286 0.3809 – 0.3809
Q5 0.7857 0.7381 0.7857 0.3809 –

2.3 Calculate the Average Covariance σij

Since there are 5 items, the number of unique pairs is:

k(k − 1) 5(5 − 1)
= = 10.
2 2
List these 10 off-diagonal covariance values (values in either upper right or lower left of the diagonal)
and then you may either use this formula:
P
i<j Cov(Xi , Xj ) σ12 + σ13 + σ14 + σ15 + σ23 + σ24 + σ25 + σ34 + σ35 + σ45
σij = k(k−1)
=
10
2
0.7381 + 0.6190 + 0.5476 + 0.7857 + 0.7381 + 0.4286 + 0.7381 + 0.3809 + 0.7857 + 0.3809
σij =
10
Or you may compute the average in excel using this function (for example, enter this formula in cell H7):

=AVERAGE(I2:M6)

In the figure, the computed average covariance (σij ) is stored in cell H7.

Step 3: Compute the Total Variance of the Summed Scores

3.1 Compute Total Scores for Each Respondent
In a new column (say, column G titled “Total”), sum the responses for each respondent. For instance,
for respondent 1 (row 2), in cell G2 enter:

=SUM(B2:F2)

3
 Then copy this formula down to row 8. Your spreadsheet might then look like:

Excel Table with Total Scores:

Respondent Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Total
1 4 5 4 3 4 20
2 3 4 3 4 3 17
3 5 5 4 4 5 23
4 2 3 3 2 3 13
5 4 4 4 4 4 20
6 3 3 2 3 2 13
7 4 5 5 4 4 22

3.2 Compute the Variance of the Total Scores

Use Excel’s sample variance function on the Total column. For example, if total scores are in cells G2:G8,
in a new cell enter:
=VAR.S(G2:G8)
Store this value in a cell (say, G9) as σX
2
.

You may recall that the formula for the variance of the total scores is:
k
X X
2
σX = V ar(Xi ) + 2 Cov(Xi , Xj ).
i=1 i<j

And is the sum of variances of each item (Xi or question) and covariances of each pair of items ((Xi, Xj)
or pair of questions).
However it is also equivalent to:
2
σX = V ar(X) = V ar(X1 + X2 + · · · + Xk )

4
Which is what we did in here in excel. We obtained the total variance by first tallying the total scores
of each respondent via SUM function (X1 + X2 + · · · + Xk ) and then calculating the variance from it (via
VAR.S(G2:G8))

Step 4: Compute Cronbach’s Alpha

Now you have:
• k = 5 (the number of items),
• σij stored in cell H7,
• σX
2
stored in cell G9.
Using the original formula:
k 2 σij 52 σij
ρT = 2 = 2 ,
σX σX
enter the following formula in Excel (for example, in cell G10):

=(5^2 * H7) / G9

This cell will now display the Cronbach’s Alpha value.

Summary
1. Data Entry: Set up your questionnaire data with respondents as rows and items as columns.
2. Covariances: Calculate the covariance between each unique pair of items using Excel’s COVARIANCE.S
function and then compute the average covariance.
3. Total Scores: Sum the responses for each respondent to obtain a total score for each, and then
calculate the variance of these total scores using VAR.S.
4. Cronbach’s Alpha: Use the formula
k 2 σij
ρT = 2
σX
to compute the reliability value.

This method provides a practical way to obtain the Cronbach’s Alpha value directly from your ques-
tionnaire data using Excel functions and formulas.