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ANALYZING DATA IN SPSS 13.0 USING SCALE PROCEDURES

Tips before you begin: Make sure your data set is open before attempting to run any analyses. During analyses, right click on terms or buttons in the dialog boxes to learn about their functions. The Help button in the dialog boxes maybe clicked at any time during analyses for more information on that particular procedure. Click the Reset button to clear the dialog box and begin a fresh analysis. Click the Cancel button to exit that dialog box without saving changes.

Choose a Procedure: Reliability Analysis Multidimensional Scaling

RELIABILITY ANALYSIS Reliability analysis allows you to study the properties of measurement scales and the items that make them up. The Reliability Analysis procedure calculates a number of commonly used measures of scale reliability and also provides information about the relationships between individual items in the scale. Intraclass correlation coefficients can be used to compute interrater reliability estimates. Example. Does my questionnaire measure customer satisfaction in a useful way? Using reliability analysis, you can determine the extent to which the items in your questionnaire are related to each other, you can get an overall index of the repeatability or internal consistency of the scale as a whole, and you can identify problem items that should be excluded from the scale. Procedure 1. On the menu bar of the SPSS Data Editor window, click Analyze > Scale > Reliability Analysis

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Office of Information Technology 2. Select two or more variables that you want to test by clicking on the variable labels in the

Reliability Analysis dialog box. To select multiple variables, hold down the Ctrl key and choose the variables you want. Click on the arrow button to add selected variables to the Items window.

List of Variables

Empty Items Window

Right arrow button to add selected variable(s)

3. Click on the Statistics button to select descriptives, summaries, inter-item, and ANOVA statistics. Click on the Continue button.

4. Click the OK button in the Reliability Analysis dialog box to run the analysis. The output will be displayed in a separate SPSS Viewer window.
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Office of Information Technology MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCALING

Multidimensional scaling attempts to find the structure in a set of distance measures between objects or cases. This is accomplished by assigning observations to specific locations in a conceptual space (usually two- or three-dimensional) such that the distances between points in the space match the given dissimilarities as closely as possible. Multidimensional scaling can also be applied to subjective ratings of dissimilarity between objects or concepts. Additionally, the Multidimensional Scaling procedure can handle dissimilarity data from multiple sources, as you might have with multiple raters or questionnaire respondents. Example. How do people perceive relationships between different cars? If you have data from respondents indicating similarity ratings between different makes and models of cars, multidimensional scaling can be used to identify dimensions that describe consumers' perceptions. You might find, for example, that the price and size of a vehicle define a two-dimensional space, which accounts for the similarities reported by your respondents Procedure 1. On the menu bar of the SPSS Data Editor window, click Analyze > Scale > Multidimensional Scaling (ALSCAL)

2. Select four or more variables that you want to test by clicking on the variable labels in the Multidimensional Scaling dialog box. Optionally, you may select a single variable for the Individual Matrices for window (depending on the Distances option selected). To select multiple variables, hold down the Ctrl key and choose the variables you want. Click on the respective arrow buttons to add selected variables to the Items and Individual Matrices for windows.

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List of Variables

Empty Variables Window

Right arrow buttons to add selected variable(s)

Empty Individual Matrices for Window

3. If the Data are distances option is selected, click on the Shape button to define characteristics of existing dissimilarities matrices. Click on the Continue button.

4. If the Create distance from data option is selected, click on the Measure button to control the computation of dissimilarities, to transform values, and to compute distances. Click on the Continue button.

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Office of Information Technology 5. In the Multidimensional Scaling dialog box, click on the Model button to control the level of measurement, conditionality, dimensions, and the scaling model. Click on the Continue button.

6. Click on the Options button to control the display options, iteration criteria, and treatment of missing values. Click on the Continue button.

7. Click the OK button in the Multidimensional Scaling dialog box to run the analysis. The output will be displayed in a separate SPSS Viewer window.
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