Using SPSS for Data Analysis Basic data file structure Each row is a single case (observation, participant).

. For example, each completed survey is a case. Each column is a single variable. For example, the number of hours a week that a child spends in day care is a single variable. You can enter and edit data in the Data Editor, but you cant perform calculations or formulas in the Data Editor. Use the Transform menu to calculate new values and variables and to recode data. You can use many different data types, including numeric, date, string (alphanumeric), dollar (currency), and many others. Entering simple numeric data Select a cell and enter a number. The data value appears in the cell and the cell editor. Press enter to record the number. If you havent named the variable, the Data Editor assigns a unique variable name (e.g., VAR0001). Entering non-numeric data You first have to define the variable. Double click on the var label at the top of the column or click the Variable View Tab (at the bottom of the data file). Click the type cell in the row for the variable, then click the button in the cell. Select the variable type in the Define Variable Type Dialogue Box.. For example to enter variables that contain letters, select String. Then click OK. You can also define descriptive variable and value labels for data values. These descriptive labels are used in reports and charts. For example, you could assign the labels Male and Female to variable values 1 and 2. To define a variable label, click the label cell in the row for the variable, and enter the descriptive label (e.g., Gender). To define value labels, click the Label cell in the row for the variable and click the button in the cell. Enter the data value and the descriptive label. Click on Add to define the value label for the data value. And click OK when you are finished. You can use defined value labels to enter data (e.g., m and f). Reading and importing Excel files Select Open from the File Menu and Data from the sub-menu. Select the file type from the drop-down list. And select a file from the list. Transforming data values To create new data values based on transforming existing data values, select Compute from the Transform menu, enter the name of the target variable, enter the numeric expression.

Descriptive statistics Click on Analyze, then Descriptive Statistics. Frequencies can be used to get frequency of each value for each variable, percents, cumulative percents. Using Frequencies, can get some statistics by using Statistics includes mean, median, mode, standard deviation, range, min, max. Using Frequencies, can create charts showing frequencies bar charts, pie charts, or histograms. Comparing means Click on Analyze, then Compare Means, then Means can use this to calculate the means for different variables. To perform t-tests, click on Analyze, then Compare Means, then click on either one-sample T tests, Independent Sample T tests (this is what you would use if you were comparing day care versus home care groups), or paired sample T tests. To calculate an ANOVA, click on Analyze, then Compare Means, then on Oneway ANOVA. Correlations Click on Analyze, then Correlate, then Bivariate. Pearman correlation is the default, Spearman can also be used (the Spearman is appropriate in instances where rank order data is used). Nonparametric tests (for nominal or ordinal data) Click on Analyze, then Nonparametric tests, then Chi-square.