Introduction to SPSS

Instructor: Dr. Galetsi Panagiota

p.galetsi@ihu.edu.gr
 QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

• Systematic collection of numerical data and information

• Data is rendered in numerical or analog format

(charts, pies, graphs, histograms)

 Quantitative analysis
• Quantitative research relies primarily on statistical analysis
• It requires the existence of a quantitative (large) sample
• The value of quantitative research findings lies in that:
a) these can under certain conditions be generalized as conclusions that
apply to the general population (to the extent that the sample on which
they are based is representative of that population) and
b) these are the result of "objective" (statistical and mathematical)
analyses.
 Quantitative data analysis
• Presentation in tables / graphical representations
• Distribution curves
• Pies / Histograms
• Calculation of mean value, median value
• Standard deviation
• Statistical tests (parametric, non-parametric), correlations (multiple
regression)
 Types of questions
• Closed type: one of the predefined answers is chosen

ADVANTAGES: fast, easy, comparable answers, easy to code

DISADVANTAGES: respondent bias, often oversimplified, reduced variety

• Semi-open-ended: it is basically closed-ended but also includes some

open-ended questions .For example, at the end there is a question of the
type: “Comment fill out Expand in detail Other etc”
Unstructured questions/ (open-ended questions)

They allow respondents to answer freely without having to

choose from a set of predetermined answers useful for exploratory
research where various dimensions and aspects of a problem are
examined.

 Answers are difficult to process and analyze (eg what steps

should be taken to improve the national health system?)
 CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD
QUESTIONNAIRE
• Ευανάγνωστη μορφή
Simple and clear language
Avoiding questions that may cause emotional reactions
"reasonable" size
Tailored to the target population
Logical sequence of questions, from simple to more complex
Charming to assist processing
Its reliability and validity have been checked
 Question formats
• Demographics: age, gender, education, experience (often used to reveal the respondent's relationship to
the subject)

• Informative: what respondents know about a topic (e.g. where did you find out about the existence of the
postgraduate program?)

• Attitudinal/opinion: to obtain information about perceptions, feelings and values (e.g. do you agree that
accountants' practices are fair?)

• Self-perception: allows subjects to compare their ideas and actions with those of others (e.g. how involved
are you in the community?)

• Standard of action: how respondents will react to a situation (eg will you continue your studies after
university?)

• Projective questions: allow respondents to answer indirectly by expressing their feelings, attitudes and
perceptions (e.g. do most students prefer oral or written exams?)
 Response scales
• Likert scale (Likert-type scale):

Each answer has been given a numerical ranking.

 These responses express the extent of agreement or disagreement with a

certain statement.

Designed to show a variation between respondents' opinions.

How important is .... (very important, important ....)

How sufficient is .... (sufficient ...... ..insufficient)

How often do you ... (often . .. rarely)

 Response scales
Structured questions: provide a set of predetermined answers.
Dichotomous: Yes/No, True/False,
Multiple choice:
-- how satisfied you are with your bench (very, moderately, not at all),
--how many hours you exercise per week (0‐2, 3‐5, more)
Flow (contingency): decision on whether the respondent should answer a
subsequent question. E.g. have you served in the army? (if yes answer
questions 10-15)
Unstructured questions:

They allow respondents to answer freely without having to

choose from a set of predetermined answers (open-ended
questions)

Useful for exploratory research where various dimensions and

aspects of a problem are examined.

 Answers are difficult to process and analyze (eg what steps

should be taken to improve the national health system?)
General use:
Very easy to use.
"point and click" interface, which allows the use of the drop-down menu to
select the commands, which the user wants to execute.
Data management: It has a friendly data editor, similar to that of Excel, which
allows entering data and data characteristics (missing values, labels, etc.).
It mainly processes one data file at a time and is not very powerful for tasks
that involve processing multiple data files at once.
There is no limit to the number of variables
• Statistical analysis: SPSS performs the most general statistical analyzes (regression, logistic

regression, survival analysis, analysis of variance, factor analysis, and multivariate analysis).

SPSS's greatest strengths are in the area of analysis of variance and multivariate analysis

(eg, MANOVA, factor analysis, and analysis of variance) that are performed with great ease.

• Graphics: SPSS has a very simple interface for creating graphs, and once graphs are created

they can be highly customized. The graphics are of a very high quality and can be "worked"

with other data processing programs or office applications (Word or PowerPoint).

 SPSS in IHU labs

• A3 labs, laba3ws28

• Username: spssuser
• Password: Sp4!2023ss

• https://rlabs.ihu.edu.gr/
 Getting Started with SPSS
• SPSS mainly uses two windows:

A. The first is called "Data Editor" and is the window in which data is

entered and statistical calculations and checks are performed.

B. The second is called "Viewer" and is the window in which the results

of the statistical analyzes are displayed.

Data Editor
Output viewer
This window allows us to:
a. choose to open an existing
SPSS file
b. to open a file of another type
let us enter data
c. to open a tutorial
d. To create and execute a query
against a database
 The SPSS menu
File: This menu provides us with the same features that the menus of the same
name provide in most office applications through this menu we have the
possibility to save a file or open an existing one, print results, etc.

Edit: This menu contains all the classic editing functions, such as copy / paste
etc., through the "Options" option, we can specify a number of parameters
related to the font of the output files or the default number of decimal places,
the currency unit, etc. Choices play an important role "Insert Variable" insert
columns "Insert Cases" insert lines
View: Toolbars and how they will
Data: Management of variables with more important options:
• Sort Cases which sorts the lines
• Sort Variable that sorts the columns
•Split file for splitting the file, based on some grouping that has been done in the variables
•Select Cases used in cases where the statistical analysis we want to perform does not concern the total
population but a sample of it Weight Cases used to define a variable as a weighting factor.
Transform: We manipulate variable values in some sense:
•Compute, we can calculate the value of a new variable from one or more existing variables
•Count Values within cases, to count values of variables that satisfy a certain property and finally, through the
commands
•Recode we can change the values of a variable
Analyze: This is the most useful menu for all statistical procedures
Graphs: All tools related to creating graphs
Utilities: Ability for researcher to monitor information about variables from all viewports, change default
viewports, etc.
Add-ons: Through this menu we have the possibility to insert add-ons, such as "Decision trees", which creates
decision trees and is used in decision support techniques
Help: Ability to get help in the same way as in all office applications.
Attributes that we must define when declaring the variables.

Name:
• In this field we define the name of each variable, which will appear at
the top of the corresponding column
• The name can consist of only one word (no spaces).
• The only character allowed is the underscore name can contain
numbers, but cannot start with a number.
• In the event that the name we define must consist of more than two
words, we can use the underscore (_).
Attributes that we must define when declaring the variables
Type:
• In this field we can specify the type of a variable.
• In most cases we define the variable type as Numeric Variables, even if it is not,
since this allows us to enter numeric values as codes instead of actual values.
• SPSS also supports other types, such as Currency Variables or Date variables, etc.
Decimals: Defines the number of decimal digits they will have.
Label : When we don't want the real name of a variable to appear in the results,
but an alias of it.
Values: This field is used to assign to the values of a variable, labels that define
their actual content. Assigning labels to the actual values is done by clicking on
the Value field of the variable we want the gray handle appears inside the cell
clicking on it brings up the tag-value assignment window.
Type: Click on the “type” box. The basic types of
variables that you will use are numeric & string
Width: determine the number of
characters SPSS will allow to be entered Decimals: number of decimals
 Data View
• Since our variables are already defined in the Variable View, we can
enter the values into them.

• Values are entered from the Data View.

• By selecting the Data View, the Data Editor window has now given the
columns the names we had given in the Variable View, as shown in the
image below.
Data view
• Rows represent cases or observations, that is, the objects on which
data have been collected:
• For example, rows represent the contents of a single treatment data
collection form, the information on an individual
• Columns represent variables or characteristics of the object of
interest:
• For example, each column contains the answers to the questions on the
treatment data collection form: age, gender, primary drug of use, etc.
The first two column headings will reflect the
two variables created: ID and Age.
The basic analysis of SPSS
Frequencies
This analysis produces frequency tables showing frequency
counts and percentages of the values of individual variables.

Descriptives
This analysis shows the maximum, minimum, mean, and
standard deviation of the variables

Linear regression analysis

Linear Regression estimates the coefficients of the linear
equation
Frequencies: Click ‘Analyze,’ ‘Descriptive
statistics,’ then click ‘Frequencies’
Descriptives
Allows you to analyze other descriptive statistics
besides the mean and Std.
Click ‘variance’ and ‘kurtosis’
Finally click ‘Continue’

Click

Click
Descriptives
Then, click OK in the Descriptives box and see
the result of the analysis.
Graphs
Click ‘Graphs,’ ‘Legacy Dialogs,’ ‘Interactive,’ and ‘Scatter
plot’ from the main menu.
 60

50

40

30

20

10

Percent
0
Missing Female Male

GENDER

60

50
EQ5

EQ1
40

30

EQ4 20

EQ2 10

Percent
0
Missing Female Male
EQ3

GENDER
Regression Analysis
•Click ‘Analyze,’ ‘Regression,’ then click ‘Linear’ from the main
menu.
Regression Analysis
 One-Sample t Test

Tests for difference between sample mean and pre-determined

population mean

Click “Analyze”  “Compare Means”  “One- Sample T

Test…”

“Test Value” = Predetermined population mean

Options:
Exclude Cases Listwise = If multiple variables used, only use
cases that have values on ALL variables
Exclude Cases Analysis by Analysis
 One-Sample T Test

One-Sample S tatistics

Std. E rror
N Mean Std. Deviation Mean
EQ2 613 2.83 1.026 .041

One-Sample Test

Test Value = 0
95% Confidenc e
Interval of the
Mean Difference
t df Sig. (2-tailed) Difference Lower Upper
EQ2 68.368 612 .000 2.83 2.75 2.91
 Independent-Samples t Test
Tests if two unrelated samples differ significantly from one another
Click “Analyze”  “Compare Means”  “Independent-Samples T
Test…”
“Test Variable(s)” = DV
“Grouping Variable” = IV
Click “Define Groups…”
MergeFile1.sav – Male = 1; Female = 0
If IV dimensional, can use cut point to create groups – i.e. x > 7 =
Grp 1, x ≤ 7 = Grp 2
Levene’s Test for Equality of Variances
If significant, equal variances cannot be assumed
 Independent-Samples t Test

Group Statistics

Std. Error
GENDER N Mean Std. Deviation Mean
EQ1 Female 326 4.30 .769 .043
Male 286 4.21 .962 .057

Independent S amples Test

Levene's Test for

Equality of Variances t-test for Equality of Means
95% Confidenc e
Interval of the
Mean Std. E rror Difference
F Sig. t df Sig. (2-tailed) Difference Difference Lower Upper
EQ1 Equal variances
5.118 .024 1.203 610 .230 .08 .070 -.053 .222
assumed
Equal variances
1.185 543.961 .236 .08 .071 -.055 .224
not assumed
Paired-Samples t Test
Tests if two related samples differ significantly from one another
Click “Analyze”  “Compare Means”  “Paired-Samples T Test…”
Paire d Sampl es Statistics

Std. E rror
Mean N Std. Deviation Mean
Pair EQ1 4.26 613 .860 .035
1 EQ2 2.83 613 1.026 .041

Paire d Samples Correlations

N Correlation Sig.
Pair 1 EQ1 & EQ2 613 .016 .684

Paire d Samples Test

Paired Differences
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Std. Error Difference
Mean Std. Deviation Mean Lower Upper t df Sig. (2-tailed)
Pair 1 EQ1 - EQ2 1.43 1.327 .054 1.32 1.53 26.657 612 .000
Saving the file