Demystifying SPSS It's Not As Complicated As You Might Think

Demystifying SPSS…it’s not as complicated
as you might think.
Dr. Christine Gregory

February 2011
• Open SPSS
• Entering data & defining variables
• Open, import and save data files
• Saving output files
• Summarising data using descriptive statistics
ASK Week Spring 2011

DEFINING VARIABLES

0
0
1
0
1
1
0
1
0
1
0 = Male
1 = Female
1
1
2
1
1
1
3
4
1
2
1 = tfl (i.e. public transport)

2 = Car
3 = Cycle
4 = Walk
3
Indicate your level of agreement with
2
the following question: 4
5
“Most days, my commute causes me 5

4
to feel stressed when I arrive at 2
university”. 1
3
2
1 = Strongly Disagree
2 = Disagree
3 = I don’t know
4 = Agree
5 = Strongly Agree
Now, let’s define our variables
Levels of Measurement
Data
Categorical Scale
Qualitative Quantitative
Nominal Ordinal Discrete Continuous

(Unranked categories) (Ranked categories) (Not possible to take (Possible to take
fractional values) fractional values)
Marital Status Satisfaction level
Political Party Level of agreement No. of cars Height
Eye Color No. of students Weight
• In SPSS, data is either Nominal, Ordinal or Scale.

• It is essential to classify data correctly.
- Incorrect classification will result in incorrect analyses.
10
Identify the level of measurement for each variable

0 = Male
1 = Female

1 = tfl (i.e. public transport)

2 = Car
3 = Cycle
ASK Week Spring 2011 4 = Walk
1 = Strongly Disagree
2 = Disagree
3 = I don’t know
4 = Agree
ASK Week Spring 2011 5 = Strongly Agree
ENTERING DATA

Opening SPSS 15.0
Always open SPSS first, then open or type in data.
Choose ONE
Open a data file from

SPSS OR Excel

Now, let’s enter our data
Saving your SPSS files
• Save in one of YOUR folders
• Name file appropriately
• Choose correct file extension
Save as type:
.sav for data files
.spo for output files

Output File
• Shows output for ALL analysis run in SPSS
• Keeps a log of all activity of open data files
• Saved with the extension .spo
Everything done in SPSS is A data file was saved as test.sav.

shown here, in outline form. This was recorded in the log here.

Creating a NEW Data File

Opening data in SPSS 15.0
Open existing SPSS data file

IMPORTING DATA
…from Excel

Importing data from Excel
• The file MUST BE .xls NOT .xlsx
• Variable names CAN be imported too
• Must be in row 1 of the worksheet
• Must begin with a letter
• No spaces and no special characters (except _ )
• Data will appear in SPSS data editor

For Example. Importing data from Excel.
Filename (.xls)
Variable names
(Row 1)
Sheet1 contains the dataset

Importing data into SPSS 15.0
Open existing data

Filename (.xls)
Select All Files

to see your .xls

Tick here if
variable names
are in row 1.
Is this range correct?
If NOT
Enter correct range here

Variable names
(from Row 1)
View all data
View and define

variables
SUMMARISING DATA
Representing data Numerically

Summarising Variables Numerically
Categorical – Nominal or Ordinal
Categorical
1 Variable
e.g., Gender
Frequency table
Mode and/or Median
use Frequencies in SPSS


Categorical
2 Variables
e.g., Stress by Gender
Contingency table
use Crosstabs in SPSS



Quantitative – Scale
Quantitative
1 Variable
e.g., Travel time (min)
Descriptive Stats
use Frequencies or
Descriptive Statistics in SPSS

Descriptives
option
Frequencies
option
Quantitative
Quantitative
by
Categorical
e.g., Travel time by
Mode of travel
Descriptive Stats
use Explore in SPSS

DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
Describing and presenting data using SPSS

“I am very satisfied with my current position.”
Strongly Neutral Strongly

Disagree Agree
1 2 3 4 5
Level of Measurement?

Categorical
1 Variable
e.g., Job Satisfaction
Frequency table
Mode and/or Median
use Frequencies in SPSS

Descriptive Statistics Menu
Statistics
Charts
• Bar
• Pie
• Histogram
Frequency tables

Frequencies. Multiple scale and/or categorical variables.
ONLY
appropriate for
categorical variables

Frequencies Output. Job Satisfaction Item 1
• ONLY a frequency table was outputted.
• Did not request statistics for these categorical variables
Percent = (Frequency)/(Total B) Valid Percent = (Frequency)/(Total A)
Total A
Total B

What is your ethnicity? Gender
(please tick one) (please tick one)
White/European Male
Asian Female
West Indian
African

Categorical
2 Variables
e.g., Ethnicity by
Gender
Contingency table
use Crosstabs in SPSS

Contingency table
(Counts or %’s)
•Observed tallies
• Expected tallies
Crosstab statistics
• Chi-square
• Correlations
Clustered bar charts

Crosstabs. Ethnic group by Gender
Add 1 or more
categorical
variables for row
and column
Output
One crosstabs table
between each row
and column variable
SPSS helps out by
identifying which
stats should be
used on certain
data types

Crosstabs Output. Ethnic group by Gender
Case Processing Summary
Cases
Valid Missing Total
N Percent N Percent N Percent
Ethnic Group * Gender 70 100.0% 0 .0% 70 100.0%
Ethnic Group * Gender Crosstabulation
Gender
female male Total
Ethnic White/European Count 22 14 36
Observed
Group Expected Count 20.1 15.9 36.0 Expected
% of Total 31.4% 20.0% 51.4%
% out of 70
Asian Count 8 10 18
Expected Count 10.0 8.0 18.0
% of Total 11.4% 14.3% 25.7%
West Indian Count 8 6 14
% of Total 11.4% 8.6% 20.0%
African Count 1 1 2
Expected Count 1.1 .9 2.0
% of Total 1.4% 1.4% 2.9%
Total Count 39 31 70
% of Total 55.7% 44.3% 100.0%

What is your gross annual income?
Quantitative
1 Variable
e.g., Gross Annual Income
Descriptive Stats
use Frequencies or
Descriptive Statistics in SPSS

Statistics
Charts
• Bar
• Pie
• Histogram
Frequency tables

Frequencies Output. Gross Annual Income
• Descriptive statistics
• Histogram with normal curve overlay.
Statistics
Gross Annual Income

N Valid 68
Missing 2
Mean 7819.12
Median 7800.00
Mode 6800a
Std. Deviation 997.947
Variance 995897.7
Skewness .370
Std. Error of Skewness .291
Kurtosis -.294
Std. Error of Kurtosis .574
Range 4600
Minimum 5900
Maximum 10500
Percentiles Q1 25 6925.00
(Quartiles) Q2 50 7800.00
Q3 75 8675.00
a. Multiple modes exist. The smallest value is shown
Messages appear at the bottom

Limited statistics
• Mean, SE of Mean
• Stdev, Variance
• Range, Min, Max
• Skewness, Kurtosis

Descriptives. Analyse scale variables.
• Appropriate for scale variables ONLY.
• Offers fewer statistics than Frequencies.
Calculates the z-values for each

variable and saves as a new variable.

Descriptives Output. Gross annual income and Age last birthday
Standardised values
saved as variables:
Z-values for Gross
Annual Income

Summarise the gross annual income of
male and female employees, separately.
Quantitative
Quantitative
by
Categorical
e.g., Gross Annual Income by
Gender
Descriptive Stats
use Explore in SPSS

Statistics
Plots
• Boxplots
• Stem-and-leaf
• Histogram
• Normality plots

Explore. Examine each scale variable by each categorical variable.
Add 1 or more
Output scale variables here
Statistics ONLY
Plots ONLY
or Both
Outputs most
descriptives
Add 1 or more
offered under
categorical
Frequencies
variables here
K-S test for normality for

each group within each
Factor variable for each
Dependent variable

Explore Output. Exam Performance by Gender
Explore Output. Exam Performance by Gender
SPSS Course at University of Colorado at Colorado Springs:
http://www.uccs.edu/~faculty/lbecker/SPSS/content.htm
SPSS Tutorials (lots of links on this site):

http://www.uccs.edu/~faculty/lbecker/SPSS/content.htm
SPSS On-Line Training Workshops (tutorials & videos):

http://calcnet.mth.cmich.edu/org/spss/toc.htm

SPSS Survival Manual, 4th Edition (2010) by Julie Pallant.
(For SPSS Version 15 or later)
Discovering Statistics Using SPSS, 3rd Edition (2009) by Andy Field.

(For SPSS Version 15 or later)

• Stats & SPSS drop-in.
(If more time is needed we’ll make an appointment)
• Undergraduates:
Friday 12.00-13.00
ASK area, ground floor of library
• Post Graduates:
Thursdays 13.30-15.00
Graduate School Training Room
(it’s in with the offices on the top floor)

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Demystifying SPSS…it’s not as complicated

as you might think.

Dr. Christine Gregory

ASK Week Spring 2011

ASK Week Spring 2011

1 = tfl (i.e. public transport)

“Most days, my commute causes me 5

Nominal Ordinal Discrete Continuous

• In SPSS, data is either Nominal, Ordinal or Scale.

ASK Week Spring 2011

ASK Week Spring 2011

1 = tfl (i.e. public transport)

ASK Week Spring 2011

Open a data file from

ASK Week Spring 2011

ASK Week Spring 2011

Everything done in SPSS is A data file was saved as test.sav.

ASK Week Spring 2011

ASK Week Spring 2011

Open existing SPSS data file

ASK Week Spring 2011

ASK Week Spring 2011

• Data will appear in SPSS data editor

ASK Week Spring 2011

Sheet1 contains the dataset

ASK Week Spring 2011

Open existing data

ASK Week Spring 2011

Select All Files

ASK Week Spring 2011

Is this range correct?

ASK Week Spring 2011

View all data

View and define

ASK Week Spring 2011

ASK Week Spring 2011

ASK Week Spring 2011

ASK Week Spring 2011

ASK Week Spring 2011

ASK Week Spring 2011

ASK Week Spring 2011

ASK Week Spring 2011

ASK Week Spring 2011

Strongly Neutral Strongly

ASK Week Spring 2011

ASK Week Spring 2011

ASK Week Spring 2011

ASK Week Spring 2011

ASK Week Spring 2011

ASK Week Spring 2011

ASK Week Spring 2011

ASK Week Spring 2011

ASK Week Spring 2011

Ethnic Group * Gender Crosstabulation

ASK Week Spring 2011

ASK Week Spring 2011

ASK Week Spring 2011

Gross Annual Income

Messages appear at the bottom

ASK Week Spring 2011

ASK Week Spring 2011

Calculates the z-values for each