SAS Tutorials: Home

Our written step-by-step tutorials are organized into sections. Users can work through the tutorials in order or skip through to topics of interest.

Section 1: Intro to the SAS Environment is intended for individuals who have never used SAS before. Learn the basics of writing a SAS program, importing data into SAS, and defining variables in a dataset.

Section 2: Working with Data covers how to work with variables and how to perform data management tasks like merging, aggregating, and transposing.

Section 3: Exploring Data is intended for new users of SAS who are beginning to explore their data using descriptive statistics. Learn how to examine the contents of a dataset using PROC CONTENTS and PROC PRINT, and how to produce descriptive statistics using PROC MEANS, PROC UNIVARIATE, and PROC FREQ.

All tutorials in this guide were created using SAS 9.3.

Our tutorials reference a dataset called "sample" in many examples. If you'd like to download the sample dataset to work through the examples, choose one of the files below:

Kent State University maintains a university-wide, limited seat license for SAS. All currently-employed faculty and staff, as well as currently-enrolled students are eligible to request a copy of SAS at no charge. The Division of Information Technology currently distributes SAS 9.4 software and licenses. SAS licenses must be renewed yearly. Note that SAS is only available for Windows operating systems.

University-Owned Computers

Please contact your local support person to receive a copy of the software or to renew your existing license.

• Kent campus departments - local desktop support contacts
• Regional campuses - local desktop support contacts

Personally-Owned Computers

Faculty/Staff/Currently enrolled students

Visit software.kent.edu to download a copy of the software or renew your license.

If you encounter problems while installing SAS, you may bring your computer to the Tri-Towers Tech Help desk. Please see the Tech Help Desk Services and Hours before visiting.

What to do if SAS can't be installed on your device

Students who need to use SAS but are unable to install the "desktop" version of SAS on their computer can alternatively use the free, cloud-based SAS OnDemand for Academics. SAS OnDemand for Academics allows you to access a version of SAS through your browser, which means you can access it on any computer with an internet connection.

SAS OnDemand for Academics is a great option if:

• You have a Mac laptop and can't, or do not want to, install virtualization software to dual-boot Windows
• You're using a public computer or a borrowed computer and are not able to install SAS
• You do not have enough hard drive space to install SAS 9.4 on your Windows computer
• You have attempted to install SAS 9.4 on your Windows computer, but the install process was unsuccessful

SAS OnDemand for Academics is free for students, but you must register for an account with SAS. Follow the instructions on the SAS website to create your account and begin using the platform.

These tutorials were created by Statistical Consulting at Kent State University Libraries.

Current authors

• Kristin Yeager
• Moira O'Neill

Past authors

• Elsa Barletta
• Preya Bhattacharya
• Ryan Burke
• Dan Burrill
• Morgan Chaney
• Edward Chiyaka
• Subir Goyal
• Meghan Novisky
• Victoria Reynolds
• Sarah Samblanet