Matering SPSS: Adding and Analyzing Data

Table of Contents

• Adding Data in Data View
• Understanding and Assigning Value Labels
• Sorting and Handling Missing Values
• Running Basic Analyses
• Creating Charts
• Analyzing Frequencies and Descriptive Statistics
• Comparing Data by Groups

Adding Data in Data View

Welcome to the second video in the SPSS for Beginners series from RStats Institute at Missouri State University. I’m Engineer Muhammad Yaar Saqib, your guide through mastering SPSS, the powerful statistical software. In our first video, we learned how to create variables in SPSS. The next step is to add some data, and we will begin in Data View. Here in Data View, you’ll see the same four variables that we created in the first video. Now, let’s add some numbers.

Understanding and Assigning Value Labels

Pause the video and enter the same numbers into your SPSS spreadsheet. Now that we have numbers, it’s important to understand what these data represent:

• ID Number: The first column is a random identification number, anonymizing our data.
• Gender: The second variable represents gender.
• Height and Weight: The last two columns represent the height and weight for each participant.

Even after you’ve named a variable, you can change the variable names by double-clicking on a variable name. This action takes you to Variable View, where you can make the changes. We previously set the measure for each variable. The ID variable is nominal because it stands for a participant’s name. The gender variable is also nominal, coded as 1 for Male and 2 for Female, making it a dichotomous variable. Height and weight are quantitative variables set to Scale because they are ratio level.

Sorting and Handling Missing Values

For variables like gender, where we coded 1 and 2, it’s crucial to assign value labels to avoid confusion. Click on Values, then instruct SPSS to represent all of the 1’s as Male and all of the 2’s as Female. Remember, these numbers are placeholders and do not indicate order or quantity.

Toggle between numbers and value labels by pressing this button.

While entering data, you may notice that some cells are blank, indicating missing values. Leave them blank in SPSS. Later, you can instruct SPSS to handle these missing values in the Variable View.

Running Basic Analyses

With our data in SPSS, we can proceed to perform some basic analyses. Let’s start with descriptive statistics to summarize our data:

• Select Analyze > Descriptive Statistics > Frequencies.
• Choose the variables to analyze, then click OK.
• SPSS generates frequency tables for the selected variables.

Creating Charts

To visualize our data, we can create various charts in SPSS:

• Go to Graphs > Chart Builder.
• Drag and drop the desired chart type onto the canvas.
• Select variables for the x and y axes, then click OK.

Analyzing Frequencies and Descriptive Statistics

Descriptive statistics help summarize and describe the main features of a data set. Here’s how to run a frequencies analysis in SPSS:

• Click on Analyze > Descriptive Statistics > Frequencies.

• Select the variables you wish to analyze.
• Click OK to generate the output.

Comparing Data by Groups

To compare data across different groups, such as male and female participants, you can use various statistical tests in SPSS:

• For t-tests, go to Analyze > Compare Means > Independent-Samples T Test.
• Select the grouping variable (e.g., gender) and the test variable (e.g., height).
• Click OK to view the results.