SPSS

SESSION 1

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 SESSION OBJECTIVES
• Introduction to SPSS
• SPSS Functionality
• Starting SPSS
• SPSS Windows
• Data Editor Window
• SPSS File Formats
• Creating SPSS Files
• Getting Help

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 INTRODUCTION TO SPSS
• SPSS is the acronym of Statistical Package for the
Social Sciences.

• SPSS is available from several platforms, i.e. Windows,

Macintosh, and UNIX systems.

• The version you will be using operates in the Microsoft

Windows environment.

• SPSS offers comprehensive and flexible statistical

analysis and data management.

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 INTRODUCTION TO SPSS
• SPSS performs a range of functions ranging from data
entry, analysis and creating graphs.
• Statistics is the study of the collection, organization,
analysis, and interpretation of data.

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 SPSS FUNCTIONALITY
• Provides a wide variety of procedures for data
analysis.
• Allows for entry, editing and manipulation of data.
• Data analysis features include exploratory data
analysis, basic statistics, regression analysis,
analysis of variance, multivariate analysis, and
nonparametric statistics.
• You will only use a small portion of these capabilities
in this course.

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 SPSS FUNCTIONALITY
• Breadth of functionality: Good
• Program's Help System: Excellent
• Document Availability: Excellent
• State of the Art: Excellent
• User Friendliness: Good

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 STARTING SPSS
• Locate the Start button
on the Task bar and
click on it.

• Click on the IBM SPSS

Statistics 20 icon on the
start menu.
• This launches the
following window

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 STARTING SPSS

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 STARTING SPSS
• Run the tutorial option gives you a tour of SPSS
most basic features
• Type in data option allows for the entry of data into
SPSS
• Open options open data files
• Use the Open an existing data source option to
open a data file

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 STARTING SPSS
• Open Car_Sales.Sav file from the files folder
➢ C:\ProgramFiles(x86)\IBM\SPSS\Statistics\20\
Samples\English

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 SPSS INTERFACE DESIGN
• Data Editor – Data view

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 SPSS WINDOWS
SPSS has four main windows namely;
a) Data Editor
This is the spreadsheet-like default SPSS window
Data editor has two views:
Data View —This is where data are stored.
Each column represents a variable and a row
represents a case or an observation
Variable View —Where variable names and other
properties can be defined

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 SPSS WINDOWS
• Data Editor – Variable view

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 SPSS WINDOWS
b) SPSS Viewer
All tables, graphics, warnings and information are
displayed in the SPSS Viewer

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 SPSS WINDOWS
c) Syntax editor
The syntax editor is used to run commands and
options not available in SPSS menus.
It is also used as an alternative for the pull-down
menus
d) Chart editor
This window is displayed on request and it is used to
edit charts and plots.
Each window in SPSS has its own menu bar with
menu options appropriate for that window type.

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 DATA EDITOR WINDOW
Data Editor
Menu

Data Editor
Toolbar

Variable
Names

Row and
Variable name
of Active cell

Cell editor
(contents of
active cell)

Active cell

Data View/Variable
View Tabs Status bar
Case/Record

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 SPSS FILE FORMATS
SPSS works with different data file types
a) SPSS Save files (.sav) – Format for SPSS data
files. They are normally read on the same type of
operating system they were created on.
b) SPSS Output files (.spv) - The tables of the Output
Viewer are saved with a file type of .spv, which can
only be opened with SPSS software.
c) Syntax files (.sps) - They are saved as plain text
and almost any text editor can open them, but with
a file extension of .sps.

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 SPSS FILE FORMATS
d) SPSS Portable files (.por) are special format files
SPSS creates. However, they can be transported
to other computers and operating systems.
e) Raw Data files or text files (.dat or .txt) consist of
strings of text without any formatting. They can be
read by virtually any statistical software and are
fairly compact for storage.

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 CREATING DATA FILES
• You can manually enter data directly into SPSS
Statistics by using the Data Editor.
• Example:
Collect information from each student on name,
birthday, height, gender and record it somewhere
• To record the data, we need to create a new file.
• Click
File > New > Data
• Switch to the variable view

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 CREATING DATA FILES
Start by defining the variable attributes of the collected
data in the variable view
Variable Type Width Decimals Values Columns Align
Name

Name String 8 0 - 8 Left

Birthday Date(mm/dd/ 8 0 - 10 Right

yy)
Height Numeric 8 2 - 8 Right

Gender Numeric 1 0 1:Male 8 Right

2:Femal
e

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 CREATING DATA FILES

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 CREATING DATA FILES
• To define value labels for gender, click on values
button

• This launches the value labels dialogue box. Assign

values to the different gender states.

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 CREATING DATA FILES

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 CREATING DATA FILES
• Switch to Data View tab

• Type in the particulars collected from students.

Consider the just defined data attributes

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 CREATING DATA FILES

• Click the Label icon on the tool bar

to switch the display for Gender from
numeric codes to labels.

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 CREATING DATA FILES

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 CREATING DATA FILES
• To save the new data
file:
1. Click File > Save
2. In the Save Data As
dialogue box
displayed, define class
folder and name the
file Class_details.
• Note the default file
format under Save
as type (*.sav)
3. Click on save button.

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 GETTING HELP
• SPSS provides an online help system, which can be
used as a guideline anytime one is analysing data in
SPSS.
• To access it , click on the Help menu, then Topics to
display the following window.

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 SESSION SUMMARY
• Introduction to SPSS
• SPSS Functionality
• Starting SPSS
• SPSS Windows
• Data Editor Window
• SPSS File Formats
• Creating SPSS Files
• Getting Help

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 NEXT SESSION
• Introduction to data analysis
• Data analysis stages
• Data levels and measurements
• Types of Data
• SPSS Variable Types
• Terms to note

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