Amit Biseas, Abir Hassan & Kayum Shikdar

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SPSS Bivariate Statistics

Social Science Research Lab
American University, Washington, D.C.
Web. www.american.edu/provost/ctrl/pclabs.cfm
Tel. x3862 Email. SSRL@American.edu

Course Objectives
In this tutorial you will learn to:
Measure relationships between two variables using these processes
o Chi-Square
o Gamma
o Lambda
o Pearsons r
Measure if a relationship between two variables is statistically significant
using a T-test
Note: This tutorial uses the World95.sav dataset. This is available on our website.

Crosstabulation
To run crosstabulations, go to Analyze > Descriptive Statistics > Crosstabs.
Select the variables for which you want the crosstabs. To specify more options,
click on the Statistics and/or Cells button. Then click Continue and OK. The
results will be displayed in the Output Editor. Lets do this for the age and college
variables (see below graphic).

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Chi-Square Test
Suppose we want to know if there is a relationship between average female life
expectancy and literacy. The appropriate test for this is the Chi-square test
which can be obtained through the Crosstabs dialog boxes.
Click on the Statistic button and check Chi-square box. Select the variables
average female life expectancy and people who read (%) *Literacy+.
Then click Continue and OK.
SPSS will produce some output which looks like this:

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Chi-square is a useful technique because you can use it to see if theres a

relationship between two ordinal variables, two nominal variables, or between
an ordinal and a nominal variable. You look at the assymp. Sig column and if it is
less than .05, the relationship between the two variables is statistically significant.
Lambda Statistic
The Lambda statistic can only be used when both variables are measured
nominally. To try Lambda out, go to the Crosstabs window.
Click on Statistics and select Lambda. Select two nominal variables from the
world95 dataset. The output below uses the variables Predominant climate
and Religion numerically coded
SPSSs Lambda Output

Gamma Statistic
The Gamma statistic on the other hand is used when both variables are
measured ordinally. SPSS reminds you of this by placing them in separate boxes.
To try Gamma out, go to the Crosstabs window.
Click on Statistics and select Gamma. Select two nominal variables from the
world95 dataset.
The output below uses the variables GDP Per capita categories and Literacy
Ordinal Variable
SPSSs Gamma Output

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Correlations
In order to understand the basic relationship between Interval (Scale) variables
you need to go to another window.
To run correlations, go to Analyze > Correlate. Then select Bivariate, if you are
interested only in the relationships between two variables, or Partial, if you are
measuring the association between two variables but want to factor out the
effect of other variables. Select the variables for which you want the correlation.
Then click OK.
Lets do both for the correlation between average female life expectancy and
aids cases.
The Bivariate Correlations Window

SPSSs Bivariate Correlations Output

Amit Biseas, Abir Hassan & Kayum Shikdar

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The table on the previous page shows you the correlation between two
variables, one at a time. Pearsons r ranges between -1 and 1 and the further
away it is from 0, the stronger the relationship between the two variables. SPSS
also uses stars to show the strength of the relationship. Statistically significant
relationships (unlike the one above) are marked with two stars.

Hypothesis Testing
T-test
There are three types of t-tests: One-Sample T test to compare a single sample
with a population value, Independent-Samples T test to compare two groups
scores on the same variable, and Paired-Sample T test to compare the means
of two variables within a single group.
Analyze > Compare Means > Independent-Samples T Test.
Select average female life expectancy as the test variable and
predominant climate as the grouping variable. Click on the define groups
button. Enter 1 (for dessert) as group 1 and 8 (for temperate) as group 2.
Click continue then OK.
SPSS Independent-Samples T-test output

Go to Analyze > Compare means > Paired-sample T-test.

Pick average female life expectancy and average male life expectancy for
variable 1 and 2. Put the variables in the box by clicking the arrow. Click OK

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SPSSs Paired-sample T-test output