Statistics with SPSS — For Beginners

Image Source — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SPSS_logo.svg

Introduction to SPSS

Statistical Package for the Social Sciences or SPSS is one of the most used and renowned software for statistical analysis of complex data which is used by various researchers worldwide. What makes it so eminent is its smooth and user-friendly interface. The user interface of SPSS is straightforward and accessible to and by everyone, which makes it easy to learn, use, and teach. Many researchers blame it to be blundering because it makes statistical analysis so simple which further leads them to be doing mindless analysis, like using your calculator for a simple ‘2+2’ calculation. You can run tests on SPSS even without proper and absolute knowledge of statistical analysis. This is obviously what this introduction to SPSS is about, to newbies.

A brief history of SPSS

In 1968, SPSS was created for social sciences namely — psychology, sociology, and health. In 2009, it was purchased by IBM(International Business Machines), an American multinational technology company, and leading in computer software worldwide. And now SPSS is used for a variety of fields other than only the social sciences.

Let’s get started

Introduction page

To begin with, SPSS, let’s get to the basics first(the version used in the images is v26 of IBM SPSS Statistics)

• Bottom left, the two types of views, a basic spreadsheet interface and specific to detailed data analysis or variable view is given
• Columns represent variables
• Rows are dedicated to types, cases, participants, etc.

Creating Variables

For creating a variable, there are some specific rules :

• You cannot use spaces, use underscore for the purpose(example — variable_1, data_set_one, etc.)
• You cannot use special characters other than alphabets and numbers(=,@,#, etc. not allowed)
• You can use numbers, but not in the beginning.
• Variables must be unique
• Maximum characters allowed is 64

Editing/Calculations/Analysis — All in one editor

The reason why most scientists describe SPSS as simple and easy to use and understand is because of its ability to have one-stop access to all the tasks, say editing data, doing calculations, or complex data analysis using the same editor.

Let’s now see what are all the labels and what do they actually do(briefly):

• Naming your variables to make data easy to understand and work with, this is done in the name section of ‘Variable View’.
• Type of data

If your data type is only numbers, you can use ‘Numeric’ data type, if you have data characters or words, you can use ‘String’, and etc.

• Width is the size of your data set.
• Decimals will show you the number of decimals in your variables(usually 2).
• The label is used to add additional information in your analysis or details to more about variables for second or third persons.
• Values, Missing, Columns, and Assign depends on your data and is automatically entered.

Measure

Image Source — Youtube

The four kinds of measures come in a depth of SPSS learning and for the basics, we are pretty much sorted as yet, only the data types and variable was the task. For beginners, the first step was to create variables and allocate values, type, and labeling.

In my next article, “SPSS for Beginners — 2” , I will cover the next steps after creating a variable what all functions IBM SPSS provides and which steps are needed to enter the’ advanced statistical analysis’ field.

Till then — keep learning, stay happy, and stay safe! :)