Research Projects SPSS Guide

created by
William B. Bergesen, MA, ITC

Table of Contents
About This Guide Starting SPSS Views   Data Editor   Variable View   Data View   Output Viewer   Journal View Menu Commands Using Existing Data   Frequencies   Copying a Table   Crosstabs   Recoding	Saving a Major Change Copying a Table Creating A New Data File   Sample Questionnaire   Completed Survey   Coded Data Set   Entering Variables   Missing Values   Entering Data   Checking for Errors   Statistical Analysis   Saving Your Work Spelling and Grammar Printing

About This Guide

The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences is a comprehensive and expensive program powerful enough to analyze large data sets like the General Social Survey Composite index 1972 to 2002 (GSS72-2002.sav), which has more than 800 variables and over 46,000 respondents. By comparison, a graduate student version of SPSS is limited to 50 variables and 400 respondents. Many research faculty members in the social sciences use SPSS to analyze primary and secondary data, and to teach the quantitative portion of research methods. They present SPSS as a tool for analyzing data and for tabulating survey results that students include in their research projects.

Here at Cal State East Bay, we are fortunate to have a site license for SPSS. In the CLASS computer lab, SPSS is available on workstations running Windows XP. When new versions of SPSS are released, textbooks (especially lab workbooks) frequently lag behind and do not reflect new or changed features. This guide was created to help fill the gap in documentation and to provide simple, step-by-step instructions for entering survey data into SPSS, creating frequency and crosstab tables, recoding variables into new variables, and copying the resulting tables into a research paper.

SPSS is not intuitive and takes considerable time to learn. There is an online tutorial, available from the Help menu, to acquaint the student with the basic concepts and procedures. Beginning with version 12, extensive program documentation is available in Adobe Reader format (.PDF). In the CLASS computer lab, access the documentation in the folder C:\SPSS Docs. This guide is an introduction to the most commonly used procedures, but not a substitute for reading the textbook, learning SPSS through the tutorial, taking class notes, or studying.

Lab assistants are responsible for making sure that the lab computers and printers are functioning properly, and that students can find and use the basic features of the software programs. Lab assistants are instructed not to answer course-related questions or in-depth inquiries about advanced research methods.

Starting SPSS

To start SPSS, double-click the SPSS icon on the Desktop or select SPSS from All Programs on the Start menu. When SPSS starts, a dialog box appears with the question, “What do you want to do?”

To open a data source file (.SAV), scroll through the list to locate and select the file. If the file you want is not on the list, click More Files to open a standard file selector. If the file you want is on removable media (like a floppy disk or ZIP disk), first copy it to the Desktop or to the My Documents folder before you open it. Remember to copy it back to your removable media when you finish making changes. A data source file is often called a system file, because it contains both variable components and data in one file.

Select your file and click OK.

Views

When SPSS opens a data source file, three windows appear: the Data Editor, the Output Viewer, and the Journal View.

Data Editor

Use the Data Editor to establish variables and to enter the characteristics contents of the variables. To switch between the Variable View and Data View, click the tabs at the bottom of the Data Editor window.

Variable View

Define the characteristics of each variable in the Variable View. Use the TAB key on your keyboard to navigate through the components from left to right and then down. Use the Arrow keys to move the focus up or to the left.

Variable characteristics include:

• Variable Name — Spaces are not permitted; use only letters, numbers, or the underscore character (_). See Chapter 8, page 76 in the SPSS Basic Manual. Earlier versions of SPSS were limited to eight characters and, for example, EDUCATION might have been shortened to EDUC. In newer versions, variable names can be 64 characters long. Using very long names, however, can make your tables appear cluttered.
• Type of Variable — Select from integer, date, currency, and so on.
• Column Width — Set the width of the column. For example, if a variable is onlly one or two characters, you can define a narrow column width.
• Column Decimals — Select the number of decimal places. For example, if your data includes currency, designate two decimal places.
• Label — The primary identifier for a variable, a label can be up to 254 characters.
• Value — A variable value is a number. The number, along with its label, identifies the answer to a question. At the right edge of the values box is an ellipsis (...) button. Click the button to open the Value Labels dialog box. The program cannot tally words or text strings, but it can tally values and then display the total in a table along with the value label. For example, if the variable "Sex" identifies the question "What is your gender?" on a questionnaire, the answers are "Male" (value 1) and "Female" (value 2). The values are the numbers 1 and 2. The value labels are the words "Male" and "Female."
• Missing — Select how to handle the situation in which a survey respondent does not answer a question (missing value) or in which the question does not apply to the respondent (DK-don’t know or NA-not applicable).
• Column — A number.
• Align — Left, right, or center.
• Measure — Scale, ordinal, or nominal.

Data View

In Data View, the Data Editor uses a spreadsheet metaphor. Each column corresponds to a variable, and each row contains the answers from one respondent.

Output Viewer

SPSS for Windows employs an Output Viewer (Listing) to display the results of the data entered and the selections made in the Data Editor. After selecting statistical arguments in the Data Editor (frequency tables, crosstab tables, means, and so on), click OK. The Output Viewer displays tables that describe the research. The information in the Output Viewer can be saved to a .LIS file, to be reopened later in the Output Viewer, or you can save the data to a floppy disk or ZIP disk as a .TXT file from which you can copy and paste the information into a research paper.

Journal View

The Journal View displays the syntax of the commands used by the program. Familiarity with the journal commands will help you to understand quantitative research and to use SPSS appropriately.

Menu Commands

The three SPSS windows—Data Editor, Output Viewer, and Journal View—share some common menus and menu commands, including:

• File — Document management commands like New, Open, Save Data, Save as, Print, and so on.
• Edit — Text manipulation commands, including Cut, Copy, Paste, and Select All. Note the Options command, used to define how variables appear. Session Journal provides a command line interface, as if the user was working on an older mainframe computer. Choose Variable Lists to change how lists appear.
• View — Includes Status Bar, Toolbars, Fonts, Gridlines, and Value Labels.
• Data — Includes Define Variable, Define Dates, Templates, Insert Variable, Insert Case, Sort Cases, Transpose, Merge Files, Aggregate, Orthogonal, Split File, Select Cases, and Weigh Cases.
• Transform — Compute includes Count, Recode (note the arrow indicating that this command opens a submenu that contains a choice between Same and Different), Categorize, Cases, Create Time Series, Replace Missing Values, and Round Pending Transform.
• Analyze — Analyze is a frequently used menu that includes Reports, Descriptive Statistics (including Frequencies and Crosstabs), and Custom.
• Graphs — Gallery, Bar, Line, Box Chart, Histogram, and so on.
• Tables — Compare Means, General Linear Model, Correlate, Regression, Log Linear, Classify, Data Reduction, Scale, Nonparametric Tests, Survival, and Response.
• Utilities — Variables, File Information User Sets, Auto New Case, Run Script, and Menu Editor. Choose Variables to view variable labels and values.
• Add-ons — Variables, File Information User Sets, Auto New Case, Run Script, and Menu Editor. Choose Variables to view variable labels and values.
• Windows — Switch between open windows, resize windows, and so on.
• Help — Along with Topics, Case Studies, and so on, the major command is SPSS Tutorial (we strongly recommend running the tutorial prior to using SPSS).

Using Existing Data

On the hard disk are several system data files, including the General Social Survey Composite Index of GSS from 1972 to 2002 (GSS72-2002.sav), a data set of about 47,000 respondents.

To open the file:

1. From the File menu, choose Open.
2. Scroll through the list to locate GSS72-2002.sav and click to select it.
3. Click Open.
4. When the data appears, from the Analyze menu, choose the statistical procedure you want to use to analyze the variables. The results of your choice appear in the Output Viewer.

Frequencies

To analyze a single variable or multiple variable, from the Analyze menu, choose Descriptive Statistics, then Frequencies. Using the data is a three-step process:

1. Analyze the variables.
2. Review the tables.
3. Copy the relevant tables into a word processing document.

The Frequency dialog box contains two fields, the source variables (all the variables in the database) on the left and the frequency field (the variables to be examined) on the right. Between the two fields is an arrow.

1. From the source variables on the left, select the variable or variables to investigate.
2. Click the arrow to move the selected variable or variables into the frequency field on the right.
3. From the buttons below, click Statistics. The Statistics dialog box contains several statistic tools. Right click a statistic tool to read a brief description.
4. Click to select the statistic tools you want to use: percentile values, central tendency, dispersion, distribution, or values as grouped midpoints.
5. Click Continue. The Statistics dialog box closes.
6. In the Frequency dialog box, click OK.

   Tip: If a word appears with an underlined letter, right click the word to see its meaning.

Tables are created and displayed in the Output Viewer.

Copying and Pasting a Table

To copy a table into a word processing document:

1. Select the table components (title, tables, and statistics) so the table border appears highlighted. To select a table, hold down the mouse button while you move the mouse diagonally across the table.
2. From the Edit menu, choose Copy Object.
3. Open a word processing document.
4. In the word processing document, click to position the insertion point (cursor) where where you want the table to appear.
5. From the word processor's Edit menu, choose Paste. The table appears in the word processing document.
6. If the rows and columns do not line up correctly, select (highlight) the table and change its font to Courier at 10 or 12 points.
7. From the File menu, choose Save to update the document.

Crosstabs

Use Crosstabs to create a table that displays the anticipated relationship between two (or more) variables. Crosstabs display the data in a table format. The components of a crosstab are a row and a column variable. The row is the effect or dependent variable and a column is the causal or independent variable.

To create a crosstab table:

1. From the Analyze menu, choose Descriptive Statistics, and Crosstabs.
2. Click to select a variable in the source field on the left, and then click the top arrow to move the selected variable into the Row Variable (Dependent) field on the right.
3. Select another variable on the left and click the middle arrow to move that variable into the Column Variables (Independent) field on the right.
4. The third box is for a control. For example, if you are analyzing Income by Education, controlled by Gender, two tables are created: one for men and one for women.
5. Below the columns, click Cells and select count, row, column, and total.
6. Click Statistics and select Chi Square (for example).
7. Click Continue.
8. Click OK.

   Crosstabs are displayed in the Output Viewer (Listing) window. When multiple statistical operations are run, the program concatenates the tables, showing the newest table below the previous tables.

   A word of caution: As a test before running multiple variables within a crosstab, multiply the number of row variables by the number of column variables. The total number of the created tables cannot exceed 23. For instance, if you have two row variables and two column variables, the product is four, which is less than 24 and within the limit. If you have five row variables and six column variables, the product is 30, which exceeds the limit of 23 and the program displays an error message.

Recoding

Sometimes data needs to be separated into categories instead of continuous variables. In order to make the change, data must be transformed, or recoded, from its present value structure to a changed value structure. For example, if ages were originally entered as a numeric field corresponding to number of years, analysis may be easier if age is broken into several bands, perhaps 5-year or 10-year categories. Recoding is the tool to create a new variable based upon existing data.

Before recoding, examine how the values are divided. Run a frequency of the selected variable to see the current values and labels. This information will be important later.

To recode:

1. From the Transform menu, choose Recode, and then choose Into New Variable. The GSS72-2002 database is write protected, so it is not possible to change its existing data; you must recode the data into a new variable.
2. In the dialog box, on the left, click to select the variable to be recoded. Then click the arrow to move the selected variable into the Old Variable box.
3. To the right of the Old Variable box are two text boxes. Type a new variable name (up to 64 characters) and a new label (up to 254 characters).
4. From the selected variable, carefully determine the present values and a new set of values (and labels). Click Old and New Values. A dialog box appears with an Old Value box on left and a New Value box on the right. Changes in the old value are initiated by changing the present values into a recoded value set. In Old Value, notice the value and range choices (variable to variable, low to ..., ... to high, and so on).
5. Use the TAB key (on your keyboard) to move from the range on the left to a new value on the right (for example, 1), and click Add.
6. Continue inserting new ranges or values until all the data you want to consider is included, then click Continue.
7. In Output Variable, click Change. For the changes to take effect, click OK. The new variable is placed at the end of the variables in the Data Editor window.
8. Use Define Variable to set the new value and labels for the transformed variable. Scroll through the data until you find the newly created variable (at the bottom of the variables). Scroll through the new variable name until the label and other characteristics are entered.
9. Click Labels. Type the value and then press the Tab key to move the insertion point to the Label field.
10. Type the label and click Add. The insertion point moves back to the Value Entry field.
11. Continue entering values and labels until all the data you want to consider is included.
12. Click OK. Now you can run Frequencies or Crosstabs based on the new variable.

Saving after a Major Change

Whenever you make significant changes to your data or to a document, you should save your work.

To save your work:

1. From the File menu, choose Save As.
2. In the file selector dialog box, select the Desktop or the My Documents folder as a location and type a name for the document.
3. Click Save.

Copying a Table into a Word Processing Document

To copy a table into a word processing document:

1. In a Frequency or Crosstabs Output Viewer window, from the Edit menu, choose Select All.
2. From the Edit menu, choose Copy.
3. Open your word processing document, point and click at the location where you want the table to appear, and from the Edit menu, choose Paste.
4. If the table is too large or the columns do not line up correctly, select the table and change the font to Courier 10 points.
5. Examine to see if everything is aligned correctly (that is, all of a frequency or crosstab table appears on one page and not split across two pages).
6. From the File menu, choose Save (for a new document) or Save As (for an existing document).
7. In the file selector, select a location for the document, and type a name for the document.
8. Click Save.

Creating a New Data File

The transition from a questionnaire to information that SPSS can use to tabulate tables and perform hypothesis testing is called coding. Coding is a process whereby survey responses are arranged in a precise order, by number, so a computer can tabulate the responses.

Tip: When the data is collected, put a number at the top of each questionnaire. Should they become shuffled, it is easy to put them back in order. The number can also be used as the id variable.

Sample Questionnaire

Table ID: ___

1. What is your last name?_______________________
2. What is your current age? _____
3. What is the highest year of education you have achieved? (For example, high school graduate=12) ___
4. What is your gender? Male__Female__
5. What is your current state of happiness? Very happy __Pretty happy __ Not too happy__

Completed Survey

This list illustrates how ten people might answer the questionnaire.

Coded Data Set

Here the data has been converted into a coded data set. Of particular note, variables are columns and respondents are rows within a SPSS Data set. After establishing the Variable view and starting the Data Editor, a dialog box appears where variable labels, values, and value labels are entered.

Entering Variables

Click the Variable View tab in the lower left hand corner of the Data Editor window. The screen changes to accept entry of the various components of a variable: Name, Type, Width, Decimals, Label, Values, Missing value, Column, Align, and Measure characteristics. Use the TAB key or the Arrow keys to navigate through the Variable View.

To enter variables and values:

1. On the Variable View tab, select the first variable and type its variable name. Use the TAB key to move to the next component of the variable.
2. In the Label field, type a descriptive label, up to 254 characters. Tip: If you are creating a table, capitalize words that will appear as labels.
3. Click the ellipsis button. The Value Labels dialog box appears:
   a. In the Value Labels dialog box, type a value.
   b. Press TAB to move the focus to the Value Label field and type a label. Click Add or press ALT+A.
   c. Repeat for each value that corresponds to the variable.
   d. When all the values for the current variable have been added, click OK to close the Value Labels dialog box.
4. Continue to enter variables, labels, and other characteristics (missing values, measures, and so on) until Variable View entries are complete.
5. Save your file (CTRL+S) at the end of each variable line.

The following example demonstrates how two values from our example data would be entered. Repeat the procedure for the other variables and values and their corresponding labels. Have the variable characteristics clear in your mind.

To begin entering variables from our example coded data set:

1. On the first line of variables, type ID. No other variable characteristics are necessary. ID identifies a person interviewed, a survey received, the sheet of paper upon which the respondent answered the research questions.
2. In the second variable name box, type the variable name Gender.
3. Use the Tab key or the Arrow keys to move the insertion point (cursor) to the right, into the Labels field, and type Gender of Respondent.
4. Press the TAB key to move the focus into the Values field. Single click in the Values field to see the ellipsis button (...). Click the ellipsis to open the Labels dialog box.
   a. In the Labels dialog box, the insertion point appears in the Value field. Type the number 1.
   b. Press the TAB key to move the insertion point to the Label field and type Male.
   c. Click Add (or press ALT+A). The value and label you typed (1, Male) are stored and the insertion point moves back to the Value field, ready for your next entry.
   d. Type 2 and press the TAB key to move the cursor to the Label field.
   e. Type Female and then press the Enter key.
   f. Click OK to close the Value Labels dialog box.
5. Click Continue to enter variable components.
6. Press Enter to move onto a new variable line.

Missing Values

In the example, the sample did not include a value in the last column for the last respondent, Hadi. Should a researcher encounter this situation, a decision needs to be made on how SPSS should handle missing data (values).
In the Header of Variable View and in a column to the right of values is Missing. Click in the missing value field to enable the ellipsis (…).

1. Click the ellipsis to open the Missing Values dialog box.
2. If missing values are given the value of 9 or 99, these values appear in the box below Discrete missing values.
3. When statistical procedures are used and SPSS encounters a number 9 or 99, the program totals the number of missing values and missing values are tabulated using frequency, crosstab, and so on.
4. Click OK to exit Missing Values..

Entering Data

After the variables have been set up in the Variable View, it is time to enter the data into the Data View. During data entry, keep in mind that each line (row) represents one respondent to a questionnaire.

Use the TAB key or the Arrow keys to navigate between columns (variables). At the end of each line of data, save the file.

Checking for Errors

Even the most diligent researchers make errors. There are several ways to guard against errors and to find errors, including:

• Have a friend assist in the data entry by reading the data to you while you type. Consider entering the data into a word processing document or spreadsheet. You can import the data into SPSS later. The column should fit exactly.
• Review each line entered against the source of your data.
• Run a frequency table:
  1. From the Analyze menu, choose Descriptive Statistics, and then Frequencies.
  2. From the source field on the left, select and move the variables into the variable field.
  3. In the ID variable, make sure there are not multiple entries of any number.
  4. Take a close look at the ID frequencies. If there are multiple entries of ID, the data for a respondent has been entered more than once.
  5. Knowing the data and values, see if there is a number that does not correspond to the answers. For example, a variable Gender may have a label, Gender of Respondent. The values would be 1 for Male and 2 for Female. In the frequencies table for Gender, look for numbers 3, 4, 5, and so on. Should this occur, data has been entered incorrectly.
  6. Review the process of running statistics from your class notes, or from the examples of frequencies earlier in this document.
  7. A new feature beginning in version 12 is the Duplicate Records Finder. Identify, flag, and filter duplicate records with Identify Duplicate Cases. For more information, see Identifying Duplicate Cases in Chapter 6, page 113 of the SPSS Basic User’s Manual.

  To to check for duplicates:

  1. From the Data menu, choose Identify Duplicate Cases by ID.
  2. The left panel lists all variables created in the variable view. Use the arrow to move them into Define matching cases by.
  3. The default settings include:
  • Variable of primary cases with the first case in each group as primary.
  • Move matching cases to the top of the data file.
  4. Make your selections and click OK.

To fix errors:

1. Review the top of the data after running Duplicate Records Finder. The duplicate data lines are in sequence (1, 2, 3, and so on).
2. The first field is represented as 1 in the Primary First column. From your survey data, find the ID for the first instance found (Primary First) and compare the values entered in SPSS from the survey data. Delete the data lines with a zero in the field Primary First.
3. Repeat these steps to correct other entries you find at the top of your data list after running Duplicate Records Finder.

Statistical Analysis

From your notes, apply statistical arguments that are consistent with your data. If you need a review, see Frequencies or Crosstabs. If you are unsure about the terminology, see the glossary.

Saving Your Work

After entering variable attributes (name, label, values, or line of data), save the system file (.SAV). The output is editable. Listings saved on a disk can be copied and pasted into your report as tables within the report, or as appendices at the end of the report.

To save your work:

1. From the File menu, choose Save As. The Save As dialog box appears.
2. Select a location. While working on a file, save the file to the hard drive, preferably to the desktop or to the My Documents folder.
3. Type a name for the file. A suggested name appears in the dialog box. To accept the name, continue to the next step. To change the name, select it and type your changes. Limit the length of your file name so you can find it easily.
4. Select a type for the file. Below the File name box is the Save as type box. If the type displayed is not the one you want, click it to see a list of alternate types and click to select the one you want from the list. At the end of a file name are a period and a three character extension (for example, SAV, POR, or TXT). The extension is important, because it denotes the type of file. Some common extensions and their file types are:
   • SAV (System File) is an SPSS file type that contains both variable and data components.
   • LIS (Listing) is a file containing a tables or statistics, or output of SPSS analysis.
   • POR (Portable) is a file type in which the data will be converted for use on another platform (for example from a Windows PC to a Macintosh).
   • TXT (Text) is a Notepad file containing only ASCII text.
   • DOC (Document) is a word processing document.
5. After selecting a location, name, and type for your file, click Save.
6. At the end of your session in the lab, remember to copy the files you created from the Desktop or My Documents folder to your removable media (floppy disk or ZIP disk).

Checking Spelling and Grammar

Remember to use the spelling and grammar checker in your word processor. The lab computers include Microsoft Word, which has a good dictionary: extensive, but not exhaustive. Keep in mind that the spell checker is not a substitute for proofreading. For example, the words form and from are both correct, but have completely different meanings. Read your final document repeatedly and, if possible, have a friend read it to make sure it is correct, before printing.

Printing

One of the strengths of SPSS is the option to select portions of a listing output and copy important tables into a research project document.

To copy a table from SPSS into your word processing document:

1. Select a table in the output listing (.SPO). To select a table, click it, or drag the mouse from an upper corner to the alternate lower corner so the table, title, and statistics all appear highlighted. To select all the tables, from the Edit menu choose Select All or press CTRL+A.
2. From the Edit menu, choose Copy (or press CTRL+C). The tables are copied to the computer clipboard.
3. Start Microsoft Word and open a new document or an existing research paper.
4. Move the insertion point (cursor) to the location in the document where the tables are to be inserted.
5. From the Edit menu, choose Paste (or press CTRL+V). The table is copied from the clipboard into the Microsoft Word document describing the table.
6. After spell checking and any other editing, proceed to printing.

To print:

1. From the File menu, choose Print (or press CTRL+P).
2. Review the options in the Print dialog box. The print dialog box includes several sections and defaults:
   • Printer - the default printer is the laser printer in the lab.
   • Page range - the default is all. Other options include current, selection, or specific pages.
   • Copies – default selections are 1 and collate.
   • Zoom – 1 page per sheet and no scaling is default.
3. Click OK when you have confirmed the above options.

Cleaning Up

Please clean up around the computer and remove your floppy disk or ZIP disk before leaving the lab.

Copyright ©2002 Bill Bergesen (Last Updated 04/02/2004)