Barchard Introduction to SPSS Marks

Barchard Introduction to SPSS 21.0 3 Marks Purpose The purpose of this assignment is to introduce you to SPSS, the most commonly used statistical package in the social sciences. You will create a new data file and calculate some basic descriptive statistics. Next you will open an existing data file and calculate the same basic descriptive statistics. Creating an SPSS File Part I: In this part of the assignment, we ll create a new SPSS data file and analyze the data. Open a new SPSS File 1. Double click the SPSS icon on the desktop. If SPSS is not on the desktop, click on the Start button, then click on Applications or All Programs, and then click on SPSS. Be sure to open SPSS 21.0. Some computers might have SPSS 22.0, but we are using SPSS 21.0 for this course. If you cannot find SPSS, click the Start button and then type SPSS into the Search programs and files.. 2. A window will pop up and ask you what you would like to do. Click Cancel. Naming Variables 1. SPSS data files have two ways to view the data. Variable View is used for creating the file. Data View is used for entering data. Click on the Variable View tab at the bottom of the window on the left. 2. Click on the first empty cell below Name. 3. Type in Reading for the variable. Variable names must be short. Press Enter. 4. Click on the first empty cell in the Label column. Type in Reading test scores for the Reading variable. The variable label can be much longer than the variable name. 5. Click on the cell directly below Reading. 6. Type in Vocabulary for the next variable. 7. Type in Vocabulary test scores as the label for the Vocabulary variable. 8. For both variables, change the number of decimals to 0. To do this, first click in the cell that shows the number of decimals for that variable, and then either type the number zero or use the down arrow to change the number. Entering Data in SPSS 1. Click on the Data View tab at the bottom left of the window. In the Data View window, each row represents a participant and each column represents a variable. 2. Click on the first empty cell under the first variable and enter the number 7 (the reading score for the first participant). You do not need to enter the participant numbers (these are already listed in the far left column as grey numbers). When entering variables, use the arrow or tab keys to move between cells. When you have finished entering data for that participant/row, scroll back and begin with the next participant/row. Enter the following set of data: Participant Reading Vocabulary 1 7 32 2 8 41 3 9 46 4 11 52 5 12 50 6 12 44 7 13 41 8 15 58 9 18 48 10 19 61 1

Saving Data in SPSS Initial Save 1. Click on the File menu at the top left of the window 2. Click on Save As on the drop down menu 3. From the Look In menu, open either your personal X: drive, your group account X: drive, or another place where you can save your file (such as your flash drive). 4. Type in what you would like to call your file next to File Name. Sometimes, SPSS will suggest a file name, such as Untitled1 [DataSet0]. Change this to something that will be easier to recognize, like SPSS reading and vocabulary data. 5. Click Save 6. An output window may appear, telling you that the file has been compressed. To switch back to the Data window, click on the Window menu, and select the Data Editor. Subsequent Saves 1. To save your data, you must first activate the Data window. To do this, click somewhere inside your Data window. Alternatively, click on the Window menu and select the SPSS Data Editor. 2. Click on the File menu at the top left of the window 3. Click Save on the drop down menu 4. If you want to save the file under a different name, use Save As. Analyzing Data in SPSS: Calculating the Mean, Median and Mode 1. Click on the Analyze menu 2. Click on Descriptive Statistics on the drop down menu 3. Click on Frequencies from the side menu 4. Choose one of the two variables from the menu on the left (click once to highlight) 5. Click on the arrow button between the two boxes to move that variable to the Variable(s) box on the right. Alternatively, you can drag the variable to the Variable(s) box. 6. You will notice that the Display Frequency Tables box is checked. Click on this box to de-select this option. A pop-up box will appear, saying You have turned off all output. Unless you select any Output Options this procedure will not be run Click OK. 7. Click on the Statistics button at the top right hand corner of the window 8. Make sure that the mean, median, and mode are all selected 9. Make sure that no other statistics are selected 10. Click on Continue 11. At the Frequencies Window, click OK. This will bring up an Output window. When you first open the Output window, SPSS will show that it is (Processing ). After a few seconds, the (Processing ) symbol will be replaced by the appropriate output. 12. You can switch back and forth between the Output window and the Data View window by clicking on the Window menu, and selecting the window you want, or by using the icons on the bottom of the screen. 13. Repeat these steps to calculate the mean, median, and mode for the second variable. When you get to step 4, move the first variable back to the left before selecting your new variable: Because you have already calculated descriptive statistics for the first variable; you do not need to calculate them again. Saving Your Output In addition to saving your data, you must also save your output. 1. Click somewhere inside your Output window (the window that popped up after running the Frequencies). 2. Click on the File menu at the top left of the window. 3. Click Save on the drop down menu. 4. You should save your output file regularly, perhaps after each analysis you do. 5. Do NOT close your output file after each analysis: if you do that, you will end up with many output files (which is very confusing), each of which has to be printed separately. Keep your output file open, so that new analyses are added to the bottom of the file, and save regularly, in case your computer crashes. 6. If you want to save the output file under a different name than the last time you saved it, use Save As. I recommend that you use file names that make sense to you. Just type in the name you want in the File name box. I would use a name like Psy210 lab3 output or Psy712 Background lab1 output. 2

Computer crashes When a computer crashes, the program you are using may close, or the entire computer may stop responding. When this happens, it is often sufficient to turn the computer off, and then start it up again: use the power button to make sure the computer is completely shut down. You may have to hold the button down for several seconds before the computer turns off. When you are working in a computer lab, turning the computer off and on again might not be enough to fix the problem. If not, I recommend switching computers. Furthermore, sometimes there is a problem with the entire lab (because all the computers in a lab are networked). If switching computers doesn't work, I recommend you move to another computer lab. Computers will crash. So be prepared by saving your files after each change you make. Editing Your Output Opening an Output File If you want to open an Output File that you were working on some other day 1. Open SPSS, and close the pop up window that asks what you would like to do. 2. Click on the File menu 3. Click on Open from the drop-down menu 4. Click on Output from the side-menu 5. Select your folder and file 6. Click Open Deleting Output If you want to remove a portion of your output 1. Click once on the heading, table, or graph you want to delete 2. Hit the delete key For example, if you do the same analysis twice, you should delete the extra analysis. To Show More Results Sometimes the computer will not show you all of your results for a particular section. If this happens, to show all your results you should 1. Double click on the section. This will select the section and open it for editing. 2. Click on one of the dots that are on the border, and drag it to resize the window. If no black dots show up, you are seeing everything there is to see. Changing Format to Show 2 Decimals To change the format of the results 1. Double click on the table to open it up for editing. Sometimes SPSS will open the table in a new window, and sometimes it will allow you to edit it in the current window either is fine. 2. Select the cells whose format you want to change. To do this, click the first cell you want to select, then hold down the SHIFT key, and click the last cell you want to select; finally, release the SHIFT key. 3. Click on the Format menu 4. Click on Cell Properties on the drop down menu 5. In the Cell Properties window, click on the Format Value menu. 6. To change the number of decimals that are shown, type the number of decimals you want in the box at the bottom of the window, labeled Decimals and click OK. Then click somewhere else on the screen, so that it knows you have finished editing this output. 7. Do this now: change the format of the mean, median, and mode in both tables, so that two decimals are visible for all three statistics. Right now, the mode has no decimal places and depending upon your computer, the mean and median might have 2 decimals or 4. Change the format so that all of them have 2 decimal places. 8. Repeat these steps to change the number of decimals for the output for your second variable. 3

Adding a Title to the File In this section, you will add a title to your file, above the word Frequencies 1. Your SPSS Viewer window is divided into two parts: the main part where you see your output, and an outline on the left hand side. If you cannot see the outline, it is minimized. Just drag the divider bar to the right, so that you can see the outline. To add a title, we will use the Outline section. 2. Move your mouse over to the Outline on the left-hand side of the screen and click on the word "Output". When you click on this word, it will highlight this word. Sometimes it will highlight all the sub-headings as well; that s okay. 3. Click on the Insert menu. 4. Click on New Title. The word Title will appear just after the word Output in the outline window. An invisible title box will also be added at the very top of the page in your statistical results, and so all of your results will shift down a little. To show where that title box is, click on the word Title in the Outline window. 5. Now that you can see where the title box is in the main Output window, open it for editing by doubleclicking on it. Type the title Reading and Vocabulary Test Statistics. 6. When you are finished typing, click somewhere else on the page. 7. Now add a second title, above the first one. The title should give your names, the course number and assignment name, and today s date. Use three lines, so this looks organized. 8. Sometimes your title will end up in the wrong part of your output. To fix this, move your mouse over to the Outline window on the left. Then drag the title to where you want it to be. You CANNOT drag stuff around in the main window: You have to use the Outline window. Any time something feels like it is out of order, use the Outline window to move it to its proper place. 9. Save your output. 10. Keep this output file open, so that new output is added to the bottom of this file. Part II: In this part of the assignment, we ll work with an existing SPSS data file. Getting the file from Dr. Barchard's website 1. Using Internet Explorer go to Dr. Barchard s website at http://faculty.unlv.edu/barchard 2. Select Courses / your course / the current semester / 3. In the section that says SPSS Research Data, select Research Data. 4. Select Open. Type in the login and password that I told you earlier. 5. The file will be downloaded. Once the download is complete, click on the file to open it. 6. Now Save this file into the appropriate drive. Use File, Save As. Select the appropriate drive and folder. Check that the file name is specified in the File name box. Right now, the file is called data729_8.sav. You might want to indicate what course this is for, by changing the name to Psy210_data729_8.sav or Psy712_data729_8.sav. Then click Save. Opening a File If you have already downloaded the data file, and you just need to open it, here s what you do: 1. In SPSS, click on the File menu at the top left of the window 2. Click Open on the drop down menu 3. Click Data from the side menu 4. Select the appropriate drive from the Look in menu at the top of the screen 5. Select the appropriate folder from the list of folders in the middle of the screen 6. Once you are in the correct folder, double-click on the file name, to select and open it. Alternatively, single click on the file name to select it, and then click Open to open it Calculating Statistics 1. Calculate the mean, median, and mode for the following two questions: How many cats do you own? How many dogs do you own? 4

The results of these analyses will appear the bottom of your output file, after your analyses for Part I. Make sure you are using the SAME output file for your entire assignment. 2. Add a title to this section, saying "Cats and Dogs", above the mean, median, and mode you just calculated. 3. Add a text box, using Insert, New Text, and write one sentence that gives the mean number of cats and dogs owned to two decimal places. Write this sentence so that it can be understood by someone who has never taken a statistics course. Do not try to teach them statistics; instead, use words they already know. For example, use the word average instead of mean. 4. This textbox should appear AFTER the mean, median, and mode you just calculated. Move the textbox if necessary. 5. Save your output file. Using Print Preview in SPSS When you are finished the assignment, you should use Print Preview to make sure it looks right. 1. If you want to submit everything in your output file (which you usually do), click on the word Output in the outline window on the left, so that all output is selected. 2. Click File, Print Preview. This shows you what it will look like when you print. 3. To close the Print Preview window and get back to the regular view, click Close. 4. If you see any errors, fix them now. For example, check that your titles are in the right location, and that you don t have any duplicate output. Then use Print Preview again to make sure it looks right. Printing Output in SPSS 1. Click the File menu at the top left of the window 2. Click Print on the drop down menu 3. Under Print Range, select either All or Selection. Usually you will want to print All. 4. Select the number of copies to be made (usually 1). 5. In this course, you will submit your assignments using WebCampus. So you need to print your file to Adobe PDF. Select the printer Abode PDF. Click OK. 6. Change the file name to Psy 210 Assignment 1.pdf. 7. Save the file somewhere convenient, such as your personal X: drive, your group account X: drive, or another place where you can save your file (such as your flash drive). WHAT YOU SHOULD HAND IN Hand in the pdf version of your output file, which shows the results from both parts of this assignment. If multiple people worked on this assignment together, then EACH student needs to hand in the assignment. This is true for every assignment in this course. Group assignments must be submitted by each student so that we have something we can grade. Usually when you do an assignment in a group, you will be sharing a computer. Complete the assignment in a group. Save it to your personal X drive. Then print it in pdf format. Save the pdf version to your personal X drive. If multiple people worked on the assignment, email ALL of the assignment files to the other team members. Be sure to send them the original SPSS or docx file as well as the pdf file. Each person then individually logs into WebCampus to submit the pdf versions of the files. 5