Research Methods in Language Education 1: Asking Questions

Week 7

Self-study Tasks

Activity 1: Transferring data to SPSS

SPSS
SPSS (also called PASW) is a software package which allows you to produce descriptive statistics and
carry out statistical tests on your data. You can borrow a copy from the library to install on your own
computer.

In the following activities, you will learn how to produce descriptive statistics and graphs in SPSS.

1. Download Week8_Excel_File.xlsx from the VLE and save it to your computer

2. Start/All programs/Microsoft Office/Microsoft Excel 2010
3. File/Open … Browse to find Week8_Excel_File.xlsx
4. Go to worksheet “Raw test scores”
5. Drag your mouse over cells A2 to I21
6. Home/Clipboard/Copy
7. Start/All Programs/Maths & Stats/IBM SPSS Statistics 19 (or the version that is on your
computer)
8. Check Type in data
9. Click OK
10. Place your cursor in the first cell
11. Edit/Paste
12. Click on the Variable view tab at the bottom of the screen

12

1
 Note
13 15 16 25

17

13. Type “Student” in the first cell

14. Type in the remaining variable names in the first column
Note: You must not include spaces or special characters (!, ?, ‘, and *) in variable names
15. In the column Decimals change the number to 0 using the drop down menu
16. In the column Label type in the full variable name
17. Click on the values cell for variable 6 “sex”
18. Type value “0”
19. Type label “Male”
20. Click Add
21. Type value “1”
22. Type label “Female”
23. Click Add
24. Click OK

18
19

20

Note: If you now got to Data view and click on Value labels, the numbers will be replaced
with ‘male’ and ‘female’
25. In the column Measure select the appropriate type of data from the drop down menu
26. File/Save As
27. Browse to folder
28. Type “Week8_SPSS_File” and click on Save

2
Activity 2: Calculating measures of central tendency and measures of spread using SPSS

There are a number of different ways you can generate descriptive statistics in SPSS
1. Frequencies
By default, this will calculate the frequency of each response for each variable. It also
provides options to generate the mean, median, mode, range and standard deviation among
other statistics. It also provides options to draw charts.
a. Analyze/Descriptive Statistics/Frequencies
b. Select the test variables (i.e. Listening Test A, Listening Test B, and Reading Test A)
c. Click on arrow

d. Click on Statistics
e. Check statistics required (see screenshot below)
f. Click on continue

g. Click OK
h. File/Save As
i. Browse to folder
j. Type “Week8_SPSS_Output” and click on Save

3
You should get the following output.

Statistics

Listening Test A Listening Test B Reading Test A

N Valid 20 20 20

Missing 0 0 0
Mean 12.70 12.85 13.65
Median 13.00 13.50 13.00
a
Mode 10 17 13
Std. Deviation 4.747 4.591 4.221
Variance 22.537 21.082 17.818
Range 16 14 16
Minimum 4 5 4
Maximum 20 19 20
Percentiles 25 9.00 8.25 10.25

50 13.00 13.50 13.00

75 16.75 17.00 17.75

a. Multiple modes exist. The smallest value is shown

4
2. Using the Explore option
The explore option allows you to compare data for different groups of participants, for
example male and female participants. By default, Explore will generate the mean, median,
range and standard deviation. There is also the option to generate stem and leaf plots,
histograms, and boxplots.
a. Analyze/Descriptive Statistics/Explore
b. Select the test variables (i.e. Listening Test A, Listening Test B, and Reading Test A)
c. Click on the first arrow
d. Select the sex variable
e. Click on the second arrow
f. Click OK
g. File/Save

5
You should get the following output.

Descriptives

Sex Statistic Std. Error

Listening Test A Male Mean 12.83 1.450

95% Confidence Interval for Lower Bound 9.64

Mean Upper Bound 16.03

5% Trimmed Mean 12.76

Median 11.50

Variance 25.242

Std. Deviation 5.024

Minimum 7

Maximum 20

Range 13

Interquartile Range 10
Skewness .345 .637

Kurtosis -1.548 1.232

Female Mean 12.50 1.637

95% Confidence Interval for Lower Bound 8.63

Mean Upper Bound 16.37

5% Trimmed Mean 12.67

Median 13.50

Variance 21.429

Std. Deviation 4.629

Minimum 4

Maximum 18

Range 14

Interquartile Range 7

Skewness -.760 .752

Kurtosis .161 1.481

6
ACTIVITY 8.5 Generating a simple bar chart using SPSS

1. Graphs/Chart Builder …
2. Click OK
3. Click on Gallery/Bar
4. Drag the first graph “Simple Bar” to the chart preview
5. Drag the variable “Sex” to the “x-axis” on the chart preview
6. Drag the variable “Listening Test A” to the “y-axis” on the chart preview
7. Click OK

7
8. File/Save
9. Double left click on the chart
10. Options/Title
11. Type the title, “Comparison of male and female students’ scores on Listening Test A”, in the
space provided
12. Close the Chart Editor
13. File/Save
12
10

11

8
Activity 3: Generating a histogram using SPSS

1. Graphs/Chart Builder …
2. Click OK
3. Click on Gallery/Histogram
4. Drag the first graph “Simple Histogram” to the chart preview
5. Drag the variable “Listening Test A” to the “x-axis” on the chart preview
6. Click OK
7. File/Save
8. Double left click on the chart
9. Options/Title
10. Type the title, “Histogram of scores on Listening Test A”, in the space provided
11. Close the Chart Editor
12. File/Save

Your graph should look like the one on the slide titled “Histograms”.

Activity 4: Generating a boxplot using SPSS

1. Graphs/Chart Builder …
2. Click OK
3. Click on Gallery/Boxplot
4. Drag the first graph “Simple Boxplot” to the chart preview
5. Drag the variable “Sex” to the “x-axis” on the chart preview
6. Drag the variable “Listening Test A” to the “y-axis” on the chart preview
7. Click OK
8. File/Save
9. Double left click on the chart
10. Options/Title
11. Type the title, “Comparison of male and female students’ scores on Listening Test A”, in the
space provided
12. Close the Chart Editor
13. File/Save

Your graph should look like the one on the slide titled “Boxplots”.

9
Activity 5: Generating a scatterplot using SPSS

1. Graphs/Chart Builder …
2. Click OK
3. Click on Gallery/Scatter
4. Drag the first graph “Simple Scatter” to the chart preview
5. Drag the variable “Listening Test A” to the “x-axis” on the chart preview
6. Drag the variable “Listening Test B” to the “y-axis” on the chart preview
7. Click OK
8. File/Save
9. Double left click on the chart
10. Options/Title
11. Type the title, “Scattergraph of students’ scores on listening test A and listening test B”, in
the space provided
12. Close the Chart Editor
13. File/Save

Your graph should look like the one on the first slide titled “Scatterplots”.

10