LibGuides: SPSS Tutorials: Getting Started with SPSS

Part 1: The SPSS Environment

SPSS is a user-friendly program that facilitates data management and statistical analyses. The first section of this tutorial will provide a basic introduction to navigating the SPSS program.

Interacting with SPSS
This tutorial covers the various screens of SPSS, and discusses the two ways of interacting with SPSS: through the drop-down menus, or through syntax.
The Data View Window
Variables are observable and measurable traits of interest. Cases are records of information on one or more variables. This tutorial discusses how Cases and Variables are oriented in the Data View window.
Using SPSS Syntax
SPSS syntax is a programming language unique to the SPSS environment. It allows you to fine-tune statistical analysis and data manipulation in ways that would be tedious, difficult, or impossible to do through the drop-down menus. This tutorial covers the basics of understanding SPSS syntax.

Part 2: Data Creation and Import

In order to use SPSS, you need data. You can either create data in SPSS or import data into SPSS from a file. Creating data means that you will enter the variables and values manually into SPSS to create a new dataset. Importing data means that you will use an existing data file that someone has already prepared and simply load it into SPSS. We cover both data creation and data importation in the following sections.

Data Creation in SPSS
This tutorial covers how to create a new dataset in SPSS by manually entering data. Also covered is the difference between row numbers (which are a part of the spreadsheet) and ID variables (which are a part of the dataset and act as case identifiers).
Importing Data into SPSS
This tutorial describes how to import data stored in an external file into SPSS.

Part 3: Variables in SPSS

Variables are a key part of all datasets. They signify how your research was conducted, and dictate what types of analysis methods are appropriate. For this reason, it is important to know what variables are; how to define, compute, and recode them; and how to work with special types of variables, such as dates. This section of the tutorial will cover each of these topics.

Variable Types
A variable's type determines if a variable numeric or character; quantitative or qualitative. It also dictates what type of statistical analysis methods are appropriate for that data. This tutorial covers the variable types that SPSS recognizes.
Date-Time Variables
Date-Time variables in SPSS are handled differently than other types of variables. This tutorial covers how SPSS treats Date-Time variables, and also covers the Date and Time Wizard.
Defining Variables
Variable definitions include a variable's name, type, label, formatting, role, and other attributes. This tutorial covers two different ways to define variable properties in SPSS, especially custom missing values and value labels for categorical variables.
Creating a Codebook
A codebook summarizes key information about the variables in a research project. This tutorial shows how to create a codebook from an existing SPSS datafile.

Sample Data Files

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:

Data definitions (*.pdf)
Data - Comma delimited (*.csv)
Data - Tab delimited (*.txt)
Data - Excel format (*.xlsx)
Data - SAS format (*.sas7bdat)
Data - SPSS format (*.sav)
SPSS Syntax (*.sps) Syntax to add variable labels, value labels, set variable types, and compute several recoded variables used in later tutorials.
SAS Syntax (*.sas) Syntax to read the CSV-format sample data and set variable labels and formats/value labels.

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SPSS Tutorials: Getting Started with SPSS

Sample Data Files

Part 1: The SPSS Environment

Part 2: Data Creation and Import

Part 3: Variables in SPSS

Sample Data Files

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