Introduction to SPSS

History of SPSS
How to enter data in SPSS
Advantages of SPSS
Disadvantages of SPSS
Presented by Nafees
SPSS?

Statistical Package For the Social Sciences

What is SPSS?

 SPSS is a comprehensive and flexible statistical analysis and data management solution.
 SPSS is a software package used for conducting statistical analyses,manipulating data,and
generating tables and graphs that summarize data.
 SPSS can take data from almost any type of file and use them to generate tabulated
reports,charts,and plots of distributions and trends,descriptive statistics,and conduct
complex statistical analyses.
 SPSS is among the most widely used programs for statistical analysis in social science.
Features of SPSS

 It is easy to learn and use.

 It includes a full range of data management system and editing tools.
 It offers complete plotting,reporting and presentation features.
 Can import data from many different sources,such as Microsoft Excel.
 Provides analysis tools to generate reports,charts,plots etc.
Basic operations in spss

 Variable entry (adding or deleting a variable)

 Data entry (adding or deleting the data)
 Saving the data
 Importing data from Excel file
 Checking the data entered
 Sorting the data
 Transforming the data
Used in…

 Telecommunications,
 Banking,
 Finance,
 Insurance,
 Health care,
 Manufacturing,
 Retail,
 Higher Education,
 Government and market research
History…

 The history of SPSS can be traced back to 1967,when Norman H.Nie then a 22 years old
Ph.D. candidate at Stanford university,decided to develop his own solution after becoming
frustrated trying to use a computer to analyze data describing the political culture of five
nations.The application Nie was trying to use was created for biologist,not social
scientists.with that in mind,Nie took detailed notes about what he needed in a software
application and enlisted the help of Dale H Bent,a fellow doctoral candidate whose
background was in operations research,to design a file structure.
Hadlai Tex Hull,who had recently received his MBA from Stanford,was tapped to write the
code,and by 1968 the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) was born.
How to enter data in SPSS?

 SPSS is a statistical analysis program that is used in a variety of fields,from market

researchers to government agencies.It allows you to perform a variety of functions on your
data,but you need data before you can do any of that.there are several ways to enter data
into SPSS,from entering it manually to importing it from another file.
Entering in your own Data
Define your variables…

 In order to enter data using SPSS,you need to have some variables.there are the columns of
the spreadsheet when using “Data view”and each one will contain data that is all the same
format.
 To define your variable,double click a column heading “Data view” a menu will
appear,allowing you to define the variable.
 When entering a variable Name,it must begin with a letter capitalization is ignored.
 When choosing the Type,you can choose between “string”(characters)and a variety of
numerical formats.
Create a multiple choice variable…

 If you are defining a variable that has two or more set possibilities,you can set labels for
the values.for example if one of your variables is wether or not an employee is active,your
only two options for that variable might be “Active”and “Former”.
 Open the labels section of the define variable menu,and creat a numbered value for each
possibility eg(1”2” etc)
 For each value,give it a corresponding label (e.g “Active”,”Former”).
 When you enter in the data for that variable,you only have to type “1”or “2” to select the
option you want.
 Enter your first case…

 Click the empty cell directly underneath the leftmost column.Enter in the value that
matches the variable type in to the cell.For example,if the column is “name”you
might enter in an employee’s name.
 Each row is one “Case” which is referred to as a record in other database programs.
 Continue filling out variables…

 Move to the next empty cell to the right and fill out the appropriate value.Always fill out
one complete record at a time.For example,if you are entering employee records,you
would enter a single employee’s name,address,phone number,and salary before moving on
to the next employee.
 Make sure that the values you enter match the Type format.For example, entering a dollar
value in a Date-formatted column will cause an error.
Finish filling out your cases…

 After each case is finished,move down to the next row and enter in the next.make sure
each case has an entry for every variable.
 If you decide you need to add another variable,double click the next open column header
and create one
Manipulate your data…

 Once you have finished entering all of your data,you can use the tools built in to SPSS to
start manipulating your data.Some possible examples are include;
 Create a frequency table
 Run a regression analysis
 Run an analysis of variance
 Create a scatter plot graph
Importing Data
Import an Excel file…
 When you import your data from an Excel file,you will be automatically creating variables
based on the first row of the spreadsheet.The values of this row will become the variable
names.you can also choose to enter your variables manually.
 Click file-open-Data.
 Select the .Xis format for the “Files of Type”
 Browse for and open the Excel file.
 Check the “Read variable names from the first row of the data box if you want the variable
names to be created automatically.
 Import a comma separated value file…

 This is a plain text file format (CSV) with each entry being separated by a comma.You can set the
variables to be created automatically based on the first line of the .CSV file.
 Click file-Read text data…
 Select All Files for the” Files of type”.
 Browse for and open the .CSV file.
 Follow the prompts to import the file.
 Make sure that you tell SPSS that the variables names are the top of the file when asked,and that
the first case is on line 2.
SPSS-Strengths

 It can easily and quickly displays data tables.

 Many complex statistical tests are available in it.
 It has a ability of data management.
 It has a ability to manage a complex data set.
 Easily opens data from other programs such as Excel and SAS.
SPSS-Weaknesses

 No doubt where SPSS has advantages on the same way it has some disadvantages too first
of all if you delete any of your variable you can not restore it.
 All data must be entered at one time,otherwise “Recode” is unable to update the latest data
with the previously entered data.
 SPSS does not have very strong data management tools.
 Lacks many regression analysis techniques.
 The graph features are not as simple as of Microsoft Excel.