How to Calculate Kappa with Excel (6 Steps)

By Vera Leigh

Kappa is a measurement of the how much two variables agree with one another. Vassar College gives the example of two judges who "concur in their respective sortings of N items into k mutually exclusive categories." You can calculate kappa by inputting numbers into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. The written formula for kappa is as follows:

Kappa = (Observed Agreement - Expected Agreement) / (1 - Expected Agreement)

Step 1

Open a new Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Your cursor will appear in cell A1.

Step 2

Type "Observed Agreement" in A1, and press "Tab." Type "Expected Agreement" in B1, and press "Tab."

Step 3

Enter all of your Observed Agreements in the cells of column A. Enter all of your Expected Agreements in the cells of column B. For this exercise, the observed agreement will equal 10, and the expected agreement will equal 5.

Step 4

Click your cursor in C1. In this cell, you will perform the first part of the equation. Type the following formula:

=(A1-B1)

Your cell will be replaced with 5.

Step 5

Click on cell D1. You will now compute the bottom part of the equation. Type the following formula:

=(1-B1)

The cell will display -4.

Step 6

Type the last part of the equation, the division part. Type the following formula into cell E1:

=(C1/D1)

Your kappa answer will appear in E1. It is -1.25.

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