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USING SPSS Guide Revised
USING SPSS Guide Revised
USING SPSS Guide Revised
Dwayne Devonish
2. Age _______
3. Move to
1. We are going to analyse ‘Descriptive
Statistics’,
‘gender’ (a categorical
then click
variable) using the Frequencies
frequencies/percentages in the next
command. box
2. To run
frequencies on a
variable, choose
the variable from
the left box field
and with the use
1. A dialogue box appears of the arrow in
marked ‘Frequencies’. the middle,
On the left box field, you transfer it to the
have a list of the variables right box field,
you have defined in your under variable(s).
variable view.
1. Gender
is
transferred
to right box
field. We
want to
2. We can choose different analyse
charts to accompany our gender.
frequency command on
gender.
Click on ‘Charts’ to see
options.
2. Click
Continue and
then you can
click OK on the
first dialogue
1. A chart dialogue box.
box appears.
You can choose bar
charts or pie charts.
Let’s choose pie
charts.
SPSS opens a separate
window called the ‘Output’
View where the statistical
output is presented.
This box tells
This table you the number
shows the of valid (those
frequencies who have filled
and in information
percentage for gender) and
s for males missing cases
and (those who have
females in not indicated
the sample. their gender).
There are ten
valid cases.
To analyse
continuous
variables such
as age, you
must use mean
and standard
deviation
statistics. Go to
Analyse,
‘Descriptive
Statistics’ and
then
‘Descriptives’
Click options to
see the various
descriptive
statistics you can
conduct on age.
Again, use the arrow
here to drag age into
right box field.
Click
Continue
and then
click OK
Ensure on first
that mean dialogue
and box to see
standard the
deviation statistical
options results.
are
ticked.
N = number of persons who indicated their age (sample
size).
Minimum = Smallest value on age (youngest person= 13).
Maximum = Largest value on age (oldest person= 53)
Mean = Average = The average (mean) age of the sample is
26.60 years (SD=12.39). Remember the standard deviation
(SD) is the spread of the scores around the mean.
Remember, mean and standard deviation are used to
summarise continuous data (age, number of children,
weight, height).
Descriptive Statistics
• Crosstabulations are descriptive tools that are used
to analyse two variables at a time. These variables
must be categorical. Crosstabulations can
summarise a relationship between two variables.
• For example, let’s say we want to analyse income
and gender to determine the number (and
percentage) of males and females that fall into
different income categories. We have to use a
crosstabulation because we are looking to analyse
two variables which are categorical.
To analyse two
variables using a
crosstabulation,
Go to Analyse,
‘Descriptive
Statistics’, then
Go to ‘Crosstabs’
2. Before conducting the
crosstabulation, click on
the tab at the bottom
‘Cells’ to request
percentages.
1. Using the arrows, you can transfer income variable
from the left to the right box field under ‘Row’ and
transfer gender variable to other field below income
under ‘Column’. You are analysing gender and income,
so one variable must go into the row box and next
must go into the column box.
2. Click ‘Continue’
and then click OK
on the first
dialogue box to run
the analysis.