SPSS Tutorial # One

STARTING SPSS

Close all otherWindows applications.

Go to the WindowsStart icon on theWindows Desktopmenu.

Click on Programs.

Click on SPSS forWindows.

Click on SPSS 10.1 forWindows.

The 'Open an existingdata source' optionshould be marked. If itis not, mark it byclicking in the emptycircle. An enlargementof this dialog box isshown next...

Click OK. If you clickon Cancel, you may seethe next screen...

...with this dialog boxinstructing you to inserta disk into Drive A.

(If you see the SPSSData Editor screen,scroll down to p. 7 tosee what to do next. )

Click on Cancel. Thiswill bring up the nextscreen...

SPSS is looking forfiles with the *.savextension. To find thesefiles, we need to go tothe C drive, that isLocal Disk (C:) asshown in the next twopictures...

By clicking onDesktop, you will bringup all of the availabledrives...

Then click on LocalDisk (C:)...

This will bring up allthe available files onthe C drive...

Click on Program Filesas shown...

Find the SPSS folder byusing the scroll bar atthe bottom of the dialogbox and double click toopen...

This will open theSPSS folder and revealother folders, but moreimportantly, data fileswith the *.savextensions. These areshown by…

…this symbol.

Click on the Cars datafile as shown... and thiswill bring up a data filethat we will use for thistutorial. If you get tothis data file at thispoint, please proceed toa similar picture as theone shown to the leftand follow thoseinstructions...

OR SCROLL DOWNTO THE BEGINNINGOF p. 9

This is the SPSS DataEditor screen... Oncloser inspection, itlooks like the nextscreen

This shows anenlargement of theSPSS Data Editormenu.

Click on File > thenOpen > then Data asshown to the left...

This is the same SPSSfor Windows dialogbox we saw before...Click OK.

You will open the SPSSfolder and reveal SPSSDATA files that looklike…

…this

Click on the Cars datafile...

Or highlight the Carsdata file and clickOpen...

EXAMINING DATAUSING THE DataView This will open theCars data file into theSPSS Data Editorwindow...

Upon closer inspection,we see the variablenames across the top ofeach column. In thefirst column we seempg or miles pergallon, in the secondcolumn we see engine,third...horse,fourth...weight, etc...

At the bottom leftcorner of the SPSSData Editor screen wesee we are looking atthe Data View... Clickon the Variable Viewand you will see thenext screen....

The Variable Viewpresents the variables inrows while the columnsare characteristics ofthe variables.  The Variable View isuseful when you wantto enter your own datafor analysis...you willdefine your variables(what the variable ismeasuring) and valuelabels (what values areassociated with themeasure). A close-upview of the VariableView is shown below...

The first row details thecharacteristics of thempg variable. Movingfrom left to right,columns containinformation that definesthe variable. The firstcolumn is, obviously,the Name of thevariable. Type showsthat the variable iscoded as a numericvariable. Width showsthat the variable is 4bytes. Decimals showsthe decimal places ofyour measure. Label isan expandedexplanation of whatyour variable ismeasuring.

To view the entireLabel for a variable youcan expand the size ofthe column by movingthe column separator atthe top of the column,to the right of theLabel...

Now you can see theentire label for eachvariable...

Try moving the activecell across any row.Buttons will appear inall but two cells, theName and Labelcolumns. Click on thebutton under the Typecolumn, to the right ofthe Numeric cell andyou will see this view...

This brings up aVariable Type dialogbox where you candefine the type of data,how many spaces youwant to use to inputyour data, and howmany decimal placesyou used to record yourdata... Please note, yourWidth may be differentfrom the one shown.Click on Cancel toclose this dialog box.

Under the Valuescolumn, click on thebutton next to

This will bring up theValue Labels dialogbox where you candefine values for yourvariables (like 1, 2, 3,etc.) and give eachvalue a name (likeAmerican, European,etc.) An enlargement ofthis dialog box andother information is seein the next picture...

Click on Cancel tomove to the next task.

Click on a cell underthe Missing column.Click on the button tothe right of None. Thisdialog box allows youto define missingvalues for eachvariable. There are nomissing values for anyvariable in the Carsdata set. However, youmay have missingvalues in your own dataset in the future. SPSSallows you to insert upto three differentmissing value codes.For example, 1="no show",while a 2 = "notapplicable". Thisallows you todiscriminate betweendifferent causes formissing data. Click onthe Data View tab inthe lower left corner.

Click on Analyze andthen on DescriptiveStatistics and then onFrequencies. This willbring up a dialog boxcalled Frequencies asseen in the next figure.

Click on Country ofOrigin and move thisvariable to the emptybox on the right byclicking on the >button between the twoboxes. This is shown inthe next figure.

Click on OK.

By clicking on OK, youbring up a newwindow, called Output1- SPSS Viewer. TheSPSS Viewer screenwill automaticallyappear as the activewindow on yourcomputer monitor.

The SPSS Viewerwindow has two largedisplay panes. On theleft, the Viewer Outlinepane shows thestructure of the SPSSoutput. On the right, thepane shows informationin the form of tables,charts, and textproduced by SPSSstatistical procedures.

To view output in theright pane, click onspecific informationyou wish to see in theleft pane. In thisexample, click on Notesin the left pane.

This is an enlargementof the Notes box.

This is what yourprintout should looklike.