Introduction to 

SPSS Statistics 17

Kathy Fletcher, Technical Support Services

WVU Office of Information Technology
kathy.fletcher@mail.wvu.edu
293-8769

System requirements  for SPSS Statistics Base 17.0 for Windows®  
ƒ Operating System  
ƒ Microsoft® Windows XP (32‐bit versions) or Vista® (32‐bit or 64‐bit versions)  

ƒ Hardware  
ƒ Intel® or AMD x86 processor running at 1GHz or higher  
ƒ Memory: 512MB RAM; 1GB recommended  
ƒ Minimum free drive space: 450MB  
ƒ CD‐ROM drive  
ƒ Super VGA (800x600) or a higher‐resolution monitor  

ƒ Software  
ƒ Web browser: Internet Explorer 6 or above  

‐ 1 ‐ 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
STARTING SPSS .................................................................................................................................... 3 
DATA EDITOR ....................................................................................................................................... 4 
DEFINE VARIABLES .......................................................................................................................................... 4 
ACTIVITY 2: CREATE A SMALL DATA SET ............................................................................................................ 5 
OPEN AN SPSS DATA FILE (PREVIOUSLY SAVED) .................................................................................................. 6 
IMPORT AN EXCEL WORKSHEET ........................................................................................................................ 7 
IMPORT ASCII TEXT ........................................................................................................................................ 8 
SAVE YOUR DATA ........................................................................................................................................... 9 
LABELLING VARIABLES ..................................................................................................................................... 9 
MISSING DATA ............................................................................................................................................ 10 
VALUE LABELS ............................................................................................................................................. 11 
MERGING DATA FILES ........................................................................................................................ 12 
ADDING MORE OBSERVATIONS FROM ANOTHER FILE ......................................................................................... 12 
ADD NEW VARIABLES FROM ANOTHER FILE ...................................................................................................... 14 
COMPUTE NEW VARIABLES ........................................................................................................................... 15 
DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS .................................................................................................................... 16 
Analyze > Reports > Case Summaries .................................................................................................. 16 
Analyze > Descriptive Statistics > Frequencies .................................................................................... 18 
Analyze > Descriptive Statistics > Descriptives .................................................................................... 19 
Analyze > Descriptive Statistics > Crosstabs ........................................................................................ 20 
INFERENTIAL STATISTICS .................................................................................................................... 21 
OUTPUT VIEWER ................................................................................................................................ 22 
SPSS STATISTICS 17 MENUS................................................................................................................ 23 
SPSS STATISTICS 17 TOOLBARS ........................................................................................................... 24 
DATA EDITOR STANDARD TOOLBAR ................................................................................................................ 24 
OUTPUT VIEWER STANDARD TOOLBAR ............................................................................................................ 24 

2 
STARTING SPSS 

When you first start up SPSS, you will see:

Most of the time you will probably choose to

• Open an existing data source

or to

• Open another type of file.

You can click next to "Don’t show this dialog in

the future" to force SPSS to skip this opening
gambit.

For our first workshop activity today,

select "Type in data" and click on OK.

You will now see the SPSS Statistics Data Editor screen:

Intro to SPSS Statistics 17  Page 3 
 
DATA EDITOR 
At this point, you can:
ƒ define variables and enter data into this window
ƒ open a previously saved SPSS data file
ƒ open an Excel spreadsheet to import data
ƒ import an ASCII text file to use as data

DEFINE VARIABLES        

1. Go to the View menu and select Variables or

click on the Variable View tab at the bottom of the screen.

2. In each row, give each variable a name.

3. In the Type column, change the variable type by clicking on the … button.

4. Specify the number of characters or digits in this dialog or in the appropriate columns
when you return to the rows of variable information.

5. You can also create a label for this variable and change other default settings.

6. Click on OK when you are finished with this variable.

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7. Repeat these steps for each variable you plan to enter.

ACTIVITY 2: CREATE A SMALL DATA SET 

1. Create 4-6 variables of your choice. For example: lname, fname, age, salary.
2. Create at least one string variable
3. Create at least two numeric variables.
4. Switch back to Data View and enter a few rows of data.

5. Click on the Save button or choose File > Save from the menu. You will see:

6. Choose a location and enter a file name.

7. Click on the Save button.

Intro to SPSS Statistics 17  Page 5 
 
8. You will see results of the saving summarized in the output window:

OPEN AN SPSS DATA FILE (PREVIOUSLY SAVED) 

1. Go to the File menu and select Open > Data.

2. Change the location in the "Look in" box to the subdirectory where your file is.

3. Select the file.

4. Click on the Open button.
5. You will see the data appear in the Data Editor window

and more information about the variables under the Variable View tab.

6 
IMPORT AN EXCEL WORKSHEET 

Ideally, the worksheet should have the variable names in the first row. You may want to
insert or edit them in the Excel file ahead of time.

1. Go to the File menu and select Open > Data.

2. Change the location in the "Look in" box to the subdirectory where your file is.
3. Change the "Files of type" selection to look for Excel (*.xls) files.

4. Select the file.

5. You might get prompted about the variable names:

6. Click on OK. You will see the data appear in the Data Editor window.
7. You may need to modify some of the variable definitions (Variable View)

Intro to SPSS Statistics 17  Page 7 
 
IMPORT ASCII TEXT 

1. Go to the File menu and select Read Text Data

2. Find the file and open it as if it were any other type of file.

3. A Text Import Wizard will start.

Step 1: choose "No" to the question about predefined format and click on Next

4. Step 2:

• Select Delimited if the data are separated by blanks, tabs, or commas.

• Select Fixed Width if each data item is always in the same column locations.

5. For Delimited data, specify the delimiter: comma, space, tab, semicolon, etc.
6. Change the variable names, especially if your text file did not include a row of names.
Change the data format type for each variable as necessary.
7. Click on each variable column in the Data Preview to switch from one to the other.

8. The last question will allow you to save all of these decisions in a file for future use.
9. When you are done, click on the Finish button.
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SAVE YOUR DATA 

To save the current contents of the Data Editor window to an SPSS saved data file, go to
the File menu and select Save. The first time you save an untitled file, the command
works like a Save As command and you will be asked to supply a location and name for
the file. Click on the Save button after you have specified all needed information. By
default, SPSS will add a .sav extension on the file.

LABELLING VARIABLES 

The easiest way to add a label for a variable is to switch to Variable View.
In the Label column next to each field, enter the text string you desire:

Another way is to use the Data > Variable Properties dialog:

You will see these labels used in the output instead of the variable names when you run
procedures such as Analyze > Descriptive Statistics > Descriptives:

You will see the label listed as an attribute when you examine the codebook
Analyze > Reports > Codebook:

Intro to SPSS Statistics 17  Page 9 
 
MISSING DATA 

Sometimes data is not available for a variety of reasons: the measuring instrument failed,
a person neglected or refused to answer a question, the response is not applicable based
on the response to a previous question (e.g. 1. are you employed? y/n … 2. does your job
include benefits? y/n). Sometimes a researcher wants to account for this data differently
and be able to distinguish or account for the various reasons for the missing item.

If you do not need to account for the reason, the easiest thing to do is to leave that cell
blank in the data entry sheet or in Excel. However, if you do know the various reasons
why a number is missing, you might want to consider entering a code for it. Certain
procedures will treat all missing numbers the same; you can look at the frequencies to
tabulate the reasons. If you need to, you can recode missing values to the system missing
value or to an interpolated value.

The easiest way to designate missing data is under Variable View.

Click in the appropriate cell in the Missing column.

A button with 3 dots will appear to the right of the word "None". Click on it:

For numeric data, you can enter 3 discrete values or a range plus 1 optional discrete value.

Blank data will still be set to the System Missing value (will appear as a period in the
datasheet.

For string data, you are restricted to a maximum of 3 discrete values – the "range" option
will be greyed out and unavailable.

When you are done, click on OK.

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VALUE LABELS 

Sometimes you want to associate a text string with your numeric data – for instance, you
may have entered 1 for "blue" and 2 for "red".

The easiest way to create or modify value labels is under the Variable View tab:

Click in the appropriate cell under the Value column. Click on the … button.

Enter a value and a label.

Click on the Add button.

When you are done, click on OK.

You can return here in the future and change value labels or remove them.

Intro to SPSS Statistics 17  Page 11 
 
MERGING DATA FILES 

ADDING MORE OBSERVATIONS FROM ANOTHER FILE 

If you wish to combine two data files with the same variables but
different cases, then choose Data > Merge Files > Add Cases

Choose to merge two currently open datasets or browse to find a saved external data file:

Click on Continue

If a variable in the first active file is not part of the second file, click on the purple arrow
button pointing to the right to include it in the new merged data set.

If there is the same variable in the

two files but with different names, you can click on the variable from the external file and
then click on the Rename button. Supply the new name and click on the Continue button.
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Whether or not you rename the variable, you can manually pair variables that you know
match even though they might have different names:
1. Click on one variable on the left
2. Hold down your Ctrl key
3. Click on the second variable name so both names are now selected.

4. Click on the Pair button in the middle.

You can choose to create a new variable that will tell you which original data file the cases
came from. The first file that was open will have 0's for the values; the second file selected
will have 1's.

After all variable selections and pairs have been made, click on OK.

Your active file now includes data from the other file. If you wish the original active file to
remain the same as before you started, then perform a File > Save As command to save
this current active dataset with a new name.

Intro to SPSS Statistics 17  Page 13 
 
ADD NEW VARIABLES FROM ANOTHER FILE 

If the two data files have the same cases but include different variables,
choose Data > Merge Files > Add Variables

Choose between an open dataset and an external SPSS .sav file.

Click on Browse to select the file (or select the open dataset).
Click on the Continue button.
Match Merge:
1. Check the box to match cases.
2. Decide if you want unmatched cases from both files.
3. Click on the variable name from the list of Excluded Variables
4. Click on the purple arrow pointing in to the Key Variables box

5. You can choose to create a variable that tells which file the cases came from if you
selected both files provide cases:

14 
COMPUTE NEW VARIABLES 

1. Go to the Transform menu and select Compute Variable

2. Give the Target variable a name.

3. Click on the Type & Label button to verify or change the new variable's characteristics.
4. Create a numeric expression by choosing functions and variables and by entering or
selecting numbers and symbols.
5. Click on the If… button if you wish the computation to occur only for some cases

Intro to SPSS Statistics 17  Page 15 
 
DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS 

ANALYZE > REPORTS > CASE SUMMARIES

Select a variable from the list on the left and click on the purple arrow button to move its
name to the right (or double click on the variable name). SPSS is going to summarize
those variables listed in the variables box on the right. Repeat for additional variables.
You can choose to not display the actual cases or you can limit how many cases are
displayed.
You can select one or more grouping variables.
Click on the Statistics button to request additional information to be displayed. Select a
desired statistic from the list on the left and click on the purple arrow (or double click)

Click on Continue to return to the previous dialog.

16 
Click on the Options button to control the appearance of the output.

Click on Continue to return to the previous dialog.

Click on OK to generate the report.

Intro to SPSS Statistics 17  Page 17 
 
ANALYZE > DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS > FREQUENCIES
Use this for categorical data when you want 1-way frequencies and percentages.
Select a variable from the list on the left and click on the arrow button to move its name to
the right. SPSS is going to summarize those variables listed in the box on the right.
Repeat for additional variables.

Click on the Statistics, Charts, and/or Format buttons to request additional results or to
control the output appearance.

Click on Continue to return to the previous dialog.

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Click on OK when you are ready to generate the Frequencies report.

Results will look something like:

ANALYZE > DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS > DESCRIPTIVES

Use this when you have continuous variables. You select variables by clicking on their
names on the left and then clicking on the arrow button in the middle.

If you want something other than the default results, click on the Options button.

Click on Continue to return to the Descriptives dialog.

Intro to SPSS Statistics 17  Page 19 
 
Click on OK to run the descriptives report.
Descriptives Results look something like:

ANALYZE > DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS > CROSSTABS

Use this procedure when you want to look at 2-way frequencies of your categorical data.
Specify a row variable and a column variable.

Click on the Statistics button if you want Chi Squares or other statistics computed.
Click on the Cells button if you want to display percentages, expected cell counts, or other
information in addition to frequency counts.
Click on OK when you are ready to generate your results.

20 
INFERENTIAL STATISTICS 

Analyze > Compare Means >

Independent-Samples T Test

Use this test when you have 2 independent samples and want to compare the means. Do
not use this test when you have a pre-test / post-test situation.

Specify one or more dependent test variables for the top right box.

Specify one grouping variable. Ideally it should just have 2 values (you inflate your error
rate if you keep repeating this test for pairs of groups B use 1-way ANOVA if you have
several groups).

Click on the Define Groups button and specify the valid values for this grouping variable.

Intro to SPSS Statistics 17  Page 21 
 
OUTPUT VIEWER 

When you run procedures from the Analyze or Graphs menu, you will automatically be
taken to the SPSS Output Viewer. In the left frame, you will see a list of various
procedures with their subordinate objects. More recent results appear at the bottom. You
can use this left frame to navigate to previous results: click on the object name on the left
and it will appear in the frame on the right, with a thin black indicator box and a red arrow.

ƒ To collapse a procedure, click on the - sign to the left of its name.

ƒ To see the list of its objects under a procedure, click on the + sign to the left of its name.
ƒ To delete a portion of your results, click on the procedure name on the left and press
the Delete key.
ƒ To see the associated notes for a procedure, double click on the Notes object name
listed beneath a procedure.
ƒ To rename an item on the left, click in the box and type.

To change text on the right, double click on on the text box and type.

22 
SPSS STATISTICS 17 MENUS 

Intro to SPSS Statistics 17  Page 23 
 
SPSS STATISTICS 17 TOOLBARS 

DATA EDITOR STANDARD TOOLBAR 

Go to Insert Weight Value Show All

Open Print Undo / Redo Variable Find Variable Cases Labels Variables

Save Dialog Go to Variables Insert Split File Select Use Spell

Recall Case Case Cases Variable Check
Sets

OUTPUT VIEWER STANDARD TOOLBAR 

Go to Show All Assoc. Run

Open Print Export Undo / Redo Case Variables Variables Autoscript Script

Save Go to Go to Use Select Create / Designate

Print Dialog Data Variable Variable Last Edit Window
Preview Recall Sets Output Autoscript

You can hide or view toolbars or choose to display larger buttons: View > Toolbars > Customize

The View menu also allows you to select a different fontwhether or not to display grid lines whether or not to display value labels, and whether or
not to display the status bar.

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Intro to SPSS Statistics 17  Page 25