How to use SPSS

By Jet Benito

What
A simple point and click software for Statistical
Analysis

SPSS Interface

Menu Bar
Contains the point and click commands

Data View
Displays the data

Variable View
Enumerates the variables

Variable View
Contains a table listing the variables

Name Column
Shows the Name of each variable

Type Column
Shows whether a variable contains numbers or texts

Label Column
Shows the label name of each variable

Values Column
Shows the label for a value (explained later)

Missing Column
Shows the value assigned for missing entries

Measure Column
Shows the measure of a variable (explained later)

How to import data

Press File

Select Open

Select Data

Select your file

Press Open

Importing data from excel

Set SPSS to Data View

In Excel, Highlight the data

you want to transfer

Press this button

Press Copy

In SPSS, Select the top left most cell

Press Edit

Select Paste

The data will now be in SPSS

Renaming Variables

The new data created

two unnamed variables

Go to Variable View

The new variables are listed in the

table

To Rename a Variable,
Select its appropriate cell

Type the new variable name

Rinse and Repeat for all Variables

The changes in the variable view

 reflect in the
Data View automatically

Changing the Variable type

Before we continue,
Lets expand the sample dataset

Old

New

The new dataset uses both

numeric and string (text) variables

SPSS automatically assigns

the type of each variable

To manually change a variables type,

select its cell

Press this button

In the new window,

Select the new type (i.e.: String)

Press OK to implement the change

Variable d is now a string variable

Assigning Labels to a Variable

There are restrictions in assigning

names to variables

EXAMPLES

Variable names cannot start with

numbers

Variable names cannot have spaces

Two variables cannot have

the same name

Labels allow you to work around these

restrictions

To assign a label,
select the variables respective cell

Type in the Label

Press Enter

Rinse and Repeat for all variables

Assigning Labels to a Value

Categorical Variables
The observations are
categories,
i.e.: Male or Female

Numbers could represent

categories,
i.e.:
Male=1
Female=0

To assign labels to values,

select the variables respective cell

Press this button

Input the Value

Assign a Label

Press Add

Rinse and Repeat for all values

Press OK to finish

The values in variable d are now

properly labeled

Missing Values

There are times when the data has missing entries

Assigning a specific value is one remedy to this problem

Using the Missing Column is similar

to assigning value labels

Select the variables respective cell

Press this button

Enable Discrete missing Values

Type in the value assigned

for missing entries

Press OK

Labels are important for

graphs and tables (covered later)

Defining a Variables Measure

Variables have different

levels of measurement

Levels of Measurement
The difference between
observations determines
the level

Nominal
The difference is in name
only
i.e.: Categorical Variables

Ordinal
The difference has a rank
i.e.:
Great, Greater, Greatest

Scale
Difference is based on a
fixed scale
i.e.: Height

Select the variables respective cell

Choose the appropriate level

(i.e.: Variable e measures distance)

Variable e is now a Scale Variable

Variables after data treatment

How to generate Summary Statistics

and Graphs

Select Analyze

Select Descriptive Statistics

Select Frequencies

(Optional)
Enable Display frequency tables

Select the Variable of Interest

Then Press this button

For Scale Variables, Press Statistics

Select the Statistics to be computed

Then Press Continue

For Nominal or Ordinal Variables,

Press Charts

Select either Bar Chart or

 pie chart

In Chart Values, Select Percentages

Press Continue

Press OK to display results

SPSS will the display results

in a new window

Use this to easily navigate

in the new window

Notice that the labels are displayed

instead of variable names

For Scale Variables,

Summary Statistics are displayed here

For Nominal and Ordinal Variables,

Refer to the Frequency Table

And the Pie Chart

Double Click an item to edit it

This will open a new window

called the Chart Editor

Press this Button

Then Click a slice of the Chart

This will label the Slice

Rinse and Repeat for all Slices

Close the Chart Editor

to save the changes

Which will update the

chart at the Display

The End