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SPSS Procedures for Chapter Examples
Chapter 3: Descriptive Statistics
In this module, we will learn to run a Descriptive analysis with SPSS. We will use the data set we
saved as hsb500R.
Step 1. Getting start
a. Click on SPSS icon to launch the program.
b. From File menu, choose Open. You will see the Open File dialogue box. From Look in box,
click on the drive where you saved the data file (e.g., here from the Removable Disk, the zip
disk).
c. Click on the file hsb500R, it will appear in the File name box. Click on Open button.
d. Now, you have the data in the Data Editor window. Make sure the window is in the Data View
mode.
Step 2. Run SPSS descriptive analysis
a. From Analyze menu, choose Descriptive Statistics, and then Descriptives.
b. You will see the Descriptives dialogue. Now, we need to select the variables we want to
analyze. The left box shows a list of variables. Click on the variable visual (Visualization test),
and then click on the arrow button to move it to the Variable box.
By Leping Liu
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c. Repeat to move the variables “mosaic” (Detecting patterns test), and “mathach” (Math
achievement) to the right box, these are the variables to be analyzed.
d. Click on Options button, you will see the descriptive Options dialogue. Make sure first check
Mean; under Dispersion section, check Std. Deviation, Variance, Minimum, and Maximum;
and under Display Order section, check Variable list. Then click on Continue button.
e. You are back to descriptive dialogue screen, click on OK. You will see the Output Viewer
window shown as:
Step 3. Save the outputs
a. In the output window, from File menu, choose Save As. In the Save in box, find the place you
save the output. Here, we save it in a folder named 3descriptive.
b. Type a file name, e.g., “descripout” in the File name box.
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c. Make sure the Save in type box shows Viewer Files (*.spo). Click on Save.
Step 4. Print the output for further use
You also need to print out a hard copy for you to prepare the analysis summary/report.
a. From File menu, choose Print.
b. Make sure the Printer Name box shows the default printer in your system. Click on OK.
With the output, now, you can continue the next step as in the Instruction Page.
By Leping Liu