An introduction

to SPSS
The purpose of this chapter is to familiarize you with the
basics of using SPSS, including how to enter data, how to
specify the type of data analysis you require, and how to
read the output.
 GETTING STARTED

Open you SPSS. When SPSS has started running see the Data
Editor page, which looks like a spreadsheet with Data View and
Variable View at the left bottom part.
This is called Data Editor, Data View.
Now, you need to enter the
information in Table 4.1 in the
SPSS Data Editor, and then
request the analysis of the data
that you wish to be carried out.
To do this there are three basic
steps:
1. define the variables;
2. enter the data;
3. run the analysis.
 DEFINING VARIABLES
and
SPECIFYING THEIR CHARATERISTICS

➢Click on
Variable View.
This is called Data Editor, Variable View.

Now you should see a page

very similar to the one in the
Data View, but this time the
columns are headed Name,
Type, Width etc. (see Figure
4.2).
 Steps in defining the variables
1. Now type ‘Gender’ in the column labelled “Name” .
2. type ‘Gender’ again in the column “Label”
3. Click on the “Values”. A small grey box with three dots on it
should appear.
4. Click on this small grey box and a dialog box headed Value Labels will
appear.
5. Click on the white box to the right of Value and type the number 0.
6. Click on the white area next to Value Label and type ‘male’.
7. Click on the button under these called Add.
8. Repeat step 5 to add female. Choose another number
9. Finally, click on the OK button on the dialog box
10. Click “measure” column and choose the measurement scale.
11. Enter other variables using the same procedure.
 The page should now look...
Untìt|ed SPSłDalaEÓ1(Of
File Edit hier Düta Ttansf0rm Analyse G apLS UtÏ!ities Vi0d0u
Help

Name ) Type ) Decin»ls ) V»lü9S ÜISSI0§ Ü0lülTt8S ÄIϧ ) Ü68S0f$

1 case Width
|N umeric 8 2 L»b9l
CaSe N0ne fl0ne 8 Rig0ht Sc»le
2 gender Numeric 8 2 Gender {.00, N008 8 Rl§§ Nominal
3 wellbe Numeric 8 2 Y/ell Male) N0n9 8 t 5c»Ie
b9In§ N0ne Right
ENTERING DATA
 ENTERING
DATA
1. Return to the Data View by clicking on the tab
called Data View at the bottom.

2. Enter your data appropriately. Use the variable name as your

guide.
REQUESTING DATA
ANALYSIS
 Let’s start by requesting some frequency
information on the variable gender. To do this:

1. Click on Analyze.
Why frequency?
2. Click on Descriptive Statistics.
3. Click on Frequencies . . . .
 4.A dialog box will open. In the white rectangle to the left
hand side of the box you will see your three variables.
5. Click on Gender and then move it to the Variable(s)
box.
6.Click on the Charts . . . button at the bottom of the dialog
box to open another smaller dialog box that you can use to
request a pie chart and a bar chart of the data in the gender
variable.
7. Click on the Bar Charts radio button.
8. Click on Continue. The small dialog box will disappear.
9. Click on OK.
We will now request some detailed information on the continuous
variable, well-being. To do so:
➢ Click on Analyze.
➢ Click on Descriptive Statistics.
➢ Click on Explore.
➢Click on Well-being and then on
the small black triangle to the left of the
box headed Dependent List. The well-
being variable will be moved into the
Dependent List box
➢ Click on OK.
Explore
Case processing summary
Cases
Valid Missing Total
N Per cent /\/ Per cent N Per cent
Well-being 9 90.0% 1 10.0% 10 100.0%

This table shows the number of valid cases, the

number of missing cases, and the total number of
cases for the variable Well being. The missing case
is, of course, case number 6.
 Descriptives
Statistic Std error

Well-being Mean 3.4444 .68943

95% confidence Lower bound 1.8546
interval for mean Upper bound 5.0343
3.3272
5% trimmed mean 3.0000
Median 4.278
Variance 2.06828
Std deviation 1.00
Minimum 8.00
Maximum 7.00
Range 2.5
Interquartile 1.409
range 2.472 .717
Skewness 1.400
Kurtosis
This is called a ‘box and whiskers’ plot –used to determine outliers
Generate a histogram for well-being
□ return to the Data Editor page and then:
➢ Click on Graphs.
➢Click on Histogram . . . A dialog box will appear with the variables in
the white rectangle to the left.
➢ Click on Well-being and then on the button with the small black
triangle on it to the left of the white box headed Variable. Well-being will be
moved into the
Variable box.
➢ Click on OK.
 DATA ANALYSIS EXERCISE

In this exercise you will use SPSS to provide descriptive information on the data
in Table 4.2. This table provides data on 15 people in an organization. Each
person works in a particular department and has been given a score out of
seven for job performance.
Task 1
Your first task is to go through the steps of defining
variables and entering the data. You will also have to decide
on a numerical code for the nominal data. If at any stage you
can’t remember what to do, refer to the instructions given
above. Once you have your variables defined and your data
entered you are in a position to analyse the data.

Task 2
Decide which type of analysis is appropriate and then
produce descriptive statistics and graphs of these two
variables. Remember that the data you have entered
contain a categorical variable (i.e. department) and a
continuous variable (performance).