Lab 1: Overview
 Entering, Cleaning, transferring, data.
 Naming and Labeling Data.
 Recoding and computing variables
 Calculating Frequencies and Descriptive Statistics.
You should have received an email with an attached excel file. Excel is a spreadsheet program that is
available on most computers. Some of the early steps in your data analysis can be done in either SPSS or
in Excel. If you are more comfortable with Excel feel free to use it for data entry. You will be transferring
your data to SPSS for further analyses.
1. Open the excel file from your email.
The excel file contains a 24 X 21 matrix of numbers .
Each row contains data for an individual subject. We call this set of data a “record” or a “case”.
Each column contains data for a specific variable measure.
The first column is the subject numbers.
The second Column is Sex with “1” used to indicate male and “2” used to indicate female.
The following 19 columns are subjects’ responses to each item on the Achievement Anxiety Test (AAT). I
have provided you with a copy of the questionnaire items and information on how to score the test.
I have also provided you with a set of data (favorite color, etc.) that you will need to enter into the
spreadsheet. – be sure that you are entering the correct data in each record.
Transferring the EXCEL Data to SPSS
The simplest way to do this is to just cut and paste. Open SPSS by clicking on the Desktop Icon. The
screen you end up with be the Data Editor. In Excel Highlight and cut (Ctrl-c) the data you want to move.
In SPSS place your cursor in cell (1,1) and paste (Ctrl-v) the data into this program. Verify that all the
data has been transferred.
Creating and Defining Variables
You can define information about your variables by clicking the Variable view tab at the bottom of the
screen. Doing so will bring the Variable Information sheet to the foreground. Then fill in the table for each
variable.
Before describing the process for defining variables, an important distinction should be made between two
often confused terms: variable and value. A variable is a measure or classification scheme that can have
several values. Values are the numbers or categorical classification representing individual instances of the
variable being measured. For example, sex is a variable. It has two values in our data set; male and
female.
Defining the Variables
Whenever you enter data into SPSS, you need to decide what names to assign to your variables and tell
SPSS what these names are so you can refer to them later in specifying the analysis you want. Use words
or abbreviations that will help you to remember what the variables are. For example, sex or gender is
obviously a good name for a variable that distinguishes men from women. It really makes no difference to
SPSS, however, and as far as SPSS is concerned, you might as well call this variable cabbage or Ralph.
This will not bother SPSS but it is likely to confuse you and should be avoided. The important thing is that
you assign your variables a distinct name (different from your other variables) that has meaning to you so
that you will be able to clearly understand which set of numbers the program is referring to. I suggest that
you name each item of the Achievement Anxiety Test as AAT followed by the item number (e.g., AAT1,
AAT2 . . .). In SPSS, variable names must be 1 to 8 characters in length and may be composed of any
combination of letters and numbers (but must begin with a letter). SPSS does not distinguish between
upper and lower case letters (so SEX is not a different variable label than sex or SeX), and in fact, SPSS
generally converts all variable names to lowercase no matter how you entered them.
The Label option allows you to provide a longer description for your variable than the eight characters that
are permitted under Variable name. This longer label will be used to define the variable in the output
generated from the analysis conducted by SPSS. You only need to provide a longer label when it will help
you to clearly distinguish between variables.
Value labels should be set for all Categorical variables. For example, if you have coded males as 1 and
females as 2, you can define these levels so that it will be correctly and meaningfully labeled on your
output. In the Value box, enter the number associated with the level you are defining. In the Value label
box, enter the name you wish to assign this level of the variable. Therefore, to define level 1 as male, I
enter 1 in the value box and type male in the value label box. Then select Add. The larger box keeps a
record of the levels defined. You can use the change and remove options to edit levels already defined.
You can also adjust the number of decimals that will be displayed and the number of columns per variable.
These do not effect the processing of your data, but they do make the date much more readable. You
should also define each measure. It provides SPSS with information about the type of data in your dataset,
which is often critical for SPSS to correctly process data.
Reversing negatively worded items.
In some scales the wording of particular items has been reversed to help prevent response bias.
This is the case in the AAT, for example, a lower value on item eight indicates higher anxiety, not lower.
The negatively worded items (see scoring directions above) need to be reversed fore a total score can be
calculated for this scale. We need to ensure that all items are scored so that high scores indicate high
anxiety.
BEFORE YOU START
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Make sure that you have a second (backup copy) of your data set. If you make a mistake here you
will lose your original data.
Check under Edit, Options, Data and make sure that the button marked “calculate values immediately”
is selected. This ensures that all the procedures are performed immediately.
Procedure for Reversing the scores of scale items.
1. Make sure you have the Data Editor Window open.
2. From the menu at the top of the screen click on: Transform, and then click on Recode, then Into Same
Variables.
3. On the left side of the menu you will find a list of the variables. Select the items you want to reverse.
Move these into the Numeric Values box.
4. Click the Old and New Values button.
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In the Old value section, type 1 in the Value box.
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In the New value section, type 5 in the value box. This will change all scores that were
originally scored as 1 to a 5.
5. Click on Add. This will place the instruction (1-5) in the box labeled OLD New.
6. Repeat the same procedure for the remaining scores.
OLD value --type in 2
OLD value --type in 3
OLD value --type in 4
OLD value --type in 5
New value --type in 4, ADD
New value --type in 3, ADD
New value --type in 2, ADD
New value --type in 1, ADD
Always double-check the item numbers that you specify for recoding and the old and new values that
you entered. Not all scales use a 5 point scale, some have 4 possible responses, some 6 and some 7.
Check that you reverse all the possible values.
7. When you are absolutely sure, click on Continue and then OK.
Warning: Once you click on OK your original data will be changed permanently.
When you save your data file you should use a new data file name that clearly indicates to you that this is
transformed data.
A word to the wise: When dealing with your data you should keep a codebook. Record all the
information that is relevant to how you labeled and defined your variables. In your codebook you should
list all the variables in your questionnaire or performance measures, the abbreviated variable names you
will use in SPSS and the way you coded them. When you create a new data file with transformed data, you
should make note of the new data file name and describe the transformations used. Time may pass between
entering your data, transforming it and analyzing it and interpreting it. Don’t rely on your memory! By the
time you are done you may have created several data files that reflect stages in your analysis. If you are
like me, you will choose file names that make sense at the time, but end up being very similar and
confusable. Having a record of what is in each file will help ensure that you are using the proper data file
at the end and help you to keep from calling two variables the same thing, or two file by the same name.
Step 2. Adding up the total score for the scale(s).
After you have reversed the negatively worded items in the scale you are now ready to calculate total
scores for each subject. You should do this only after you have a complete data file. If you analyze your
data, and then add new data, you will need to go through the recode step again. Always keep a copy of
untransformed data so that you can add new cases. Unlike other spreadsheet programs (e.g., Excel),
SPSS does not automatically recalculate values if you add extra cases or if you make changes to any
of the values in the data file.
Procedure for Calculating Total Scale Scores.
1. Make sure you have the Data Editor window open on the screen in front of you.
2. From the menu at the top of the screen click on: Transform, then click on Compute.
3. In the Target variable box type in the new name you wish to give the total scale (it is useful to use a T
prefix to indicate total scores as this makes them easier to find in the alphabetical list of variables when
you do your analysis.).
Important: Make sure you do not accidentally use a variable name that has already been used in the
data set. If you do, you will lose all your original data -- potential disaster -- so double check this (and
be sure you have a back-up copy of your original data).
4. Enter the name of your new variable in the Target Variable box. (E.g., FAAT for the facilitating
subscale of the AAT)
5. Click on the Type and Label button. In the label box and type a description of the scale. (e.g., the
facilitating subscale of the AAT ). Click on Continue.
5. From the list of variables on the left-hand side, click on the first item on the scale. 6. Click on the arrow
button  to move it into the Numeric Expression box.
7. Click on + on the calculator (to indicate that this item should be added)
8. Click on the second item in the scale. Click on the arrow button  to move it into the Numeric
Expression box.
9. Click on + on the calculator and repeat the process until all the scale items are in the box.
10. You should have a numeric expression that includes all the scale items that are being included in the
new variable.
11. Double check that all items are correct and that there are + signs in the correct places. Click OK.
This will create a new variable at the end of your data set. If any items had missing data, the overall score
will be missing. This is indicated by a full stop (.) instead of a score in the data file. We will discuss
missing data in class.
For this assignment: Create a new variable that reflects the total AAT Score and a variable for each of
each of the ATT subscales.
You now have three 8 variables of interest ( Sex, 3 scales from the AAT and 4 that you entered).
Think about what measures of central tendency (Mean, median and/or mode) would be appropriate for
summarizing each variable. What about measures of Dispersion, if any?
From the data editor screen click on analyze.
Go to the Descriptives Menu. Choose Frequencies.
You will calculate and report descriptive statistics which are appropriate for each variable.
To see the types of statistics that SPSS can provide you with – use the Statistics option.
Do not be afraid to play!!!!! Output files are very easily edited.
Write-up a brief report that summarizes each variable in a meaningful way. Use appropriate Descriptive
Statistics. For this lab you may work in pairs. Submit the SPSS edited printout or relevant tables from it
with your write up.
Note. Tables can be cut and pasted from SPSS to Word or WordPerfect. They can also be edited. Please
Play – when you play, I learn.
Names
Lab 1 Objectives
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Creating new variables (reverse coding, compute statement).
Summarize categorical data (Sex, Color, Night/Day)
Summarize continuaous data (AAT scales, states lived in, Grocery Money).
Comments
Grade _____/3
Lab 1 Objectives
□
□
□
Creating new variables (reverse coding, compute statement).
Summarize categorical data (Sex, Color, Night/Day)
Summarize continuaous data (AAT scales, states lived in, Grocery Money).
Comments
Grade _____/3