SPSS FAQ
(courtesy of CP204a Fall 2003)
1.
How do I read an Excel spreadsheet into SPSS?
From the Data Editor Window, choose File-Open, then set the file type to .xls. Be sure to
check Read Variable Names in the dialog box.
2.
How do I look at the distributions of variable values?
From either the Data Editor or Output Windows, choose Analyze then Descriptive
Statistics, then Frequencies. Drag and move the variables of interest from the list side of
the window to the analysis side. Then click OK. You can turn on the quantiles option and
turn off the frequencies option using the Statistics button. The results will appear in the
Output Window.
3.
How do I look at the average variable values?
From either the Data Editor or Output Windows, choose Analyze then Descriptive
Statistics, then Descriptives. Drag and move the variables of interest from the list side of
the window to the analysis side. Then click OK. The results will appear in the Output
Window.
4.
How can I select only certain cases for analysis?
Choose Data-Select Cases, and then use the radio button to choose If Condition is
Satisfied to set up a condition using one or more variables.
5.
How can I analyze different subsets of cases?
Choose Data-Split File-Compare Groups, and then choose a grouping variable. Any
subsequent analysis will be completed for all chosen groups.
6.
What are Variable Labels and Value Labels, and how can I set them?
Variable and value labels are user-defined descriptions of variables (which are limited to
8 characters) and variable values (which are usually numerical). Value and variable levels
are entered under the Variable View tab of the Data Window.
7.
How can I create new variables?
Go to Transform-Compute, then enter a new variable name in the Target Variable box,
and then construct a mathematical expression to calculate it.
8.
How do I save my altered data? My output?
To save your data, from the Data Window, click on File-Save As, then enter a file name.
SPSS will save your data in its proprietary .sav form. To save your output, from the
Output Window, click on File-Save As, then enter a file name. SPSS will save your
output as a text file with an .spo extension.
9.
How do I collapse interval variables into categories?
From the main menu, click Transform-Recode-Into Different Variables. Then choose
the name of the interval variable you want to recode from, and then under Output
Variable, enter the name of a new variable you want to recode to. Click on the Old and
New Values button, then under Old Value, click the appropriate radio button to recode
from a single numeric value, a missing value, or range of values (low-to-high). Under
New Value, enter a corresponding value. Check the Output variables are strings box if
your want your variable categories to be strings. Add the value to the recode list, then
recode your second interval value, and so on. Click Continue when done, then OK to
execute the recode. Never recode into the same Variable.
10.
How do I change string variables into numeric variables?
From the main menu, click Transform-Recode-Into Different Variables. Then choose
the name of the string variable you want to recode from, and then under Output
Variable, enter the name of the new variable you want to recode to. Click on the Old
and New Values button, then under Old Value, enter the alphanumeric code. Under New
Value, enter a corresponding numeric value. Add it to the recode list, then recode your
second alphanumeric value, and so on. Click Continue when done, then OK to execute
the recode. Never recode into the same Variable.
11.
How do I run Crosstabs and produce Crosstab statistics?
First, if you are going to want to analyze one or more interval variables, be sure you have
collapsed them into appropriate categories: Run Descriptives on them to help figure out
the categories. Similarly, if you want to analyze a nominal or ordinal variable with more
than 5-7 values, consider collapsing it into fewer categories. Remember, empty cells are
the bane of crosstabs.
To build a crosstab, click Analyze-Descriptives-Crosstabs. Then choose your Row
(dependent) and Column (independent) Variables. You can set up multiple crosstabs at
once by choosing multiple row and column variables. Click on the Statistics button to
compute different association statistics. Click on the Cells button to turn on row, column,
and cell percentages.
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