Full transcript
0:06Are you ready to learn how to use SPSS for your introductory statistics class?
0:11You've come to the right place. My name is Dr. Todd Daniel and this is
0:17SPSS for Beginners from the RStats Institute at Missouri State University.
0:23I use SPSS, pretty much on a daily basis, so I developed this series of videos for
0:30people who are brand new to SPSS, to get you started quickly and easily. This
0:37series is intended as an introduction. Once you're ready to run an analysis for
0:42class, you can move on to our other videos that cover those topics in much
0:47greater detail. We are going to start with the basics where I teach you about
0:53the SPSS workspace, how to create variables, and how to enter data. From
1:00there we will move on to simple statistics, and common statistical tests.
1:05So, as you can see, we have a lot to cover. If you are ready, let's get started
1:12with SPSS for Beginners.
1:20SPSS is a popular program for statistical analysis. It's used often in
1:26the behavioral sciences, like psychology, but it works well for lots of other
1:30fields. So why has SPSS become so popular?
1:35The biggest strength of SPSS is its user interface. Now, I might argue that it's
1:40biggest strength is actually with data handling, but its popularity is no doubt
1:45because of that user interface, which relies on drop-down menus, making it very
1:51easy to teach and to learn. The common criticism of SPSS is because of its user
1:59interface. Because it makes statistical analysis simple, it also risks making
2:05analysis simplistic. It allows people to run tests without really knowing what
2:09they're doing, and it encourages mindless analysis. So in this set of videos for
2:15beginners, I confess that I am showing you how to use SPSS a bit mindlessly. But
2:21I WILL teach you about the other tests and interpretations in other videos.
2:27So for now, you get comfortable with SPSS software, and later we are going to learn
2:32about theory and research design.
2:40The letters SPSS used to stand for "Statistical Package for the Social
2:46Sciences." SPSS was created for social sciences
2:50like psychology, sociology, Health and Human Services, way back in 1968. In 2009,
2:57SPSS was purchased by IBM and because it is now used in a variety of fields other
3:03than the Social Sciences, SPSS is an acronym like BP, KFC, AOL, BNSF, AT&T, or IBM.
3:15The letters no longer stand for anything and its proper name is now IBM SPSS
3:23Statistics. This introduction is for people who have had little to no
3:33experience with SPSS. Start by opening the SPSS software on your computer. When
3:42the splash page pops up, just dismiss it and then we can get to work. I am going
3:49to be using SPSS version 24, but what I show you will look very familiar even if
3:55you're using a version as far back as SPSS 16. Let's get started with the
4:01basics. There are two view modes to SPSS: there is Data View and Variable View.
4:09Data View - which we're in right now - is basically just a spreadsheet, and this is
4:15where you enter numbers. Each row represents one participant, or subject, or
4:20case, and each column is dedicated to a single variable, or type of measurement.
4:26Right now, all of the cells are gray. Let's just try popping in some numbers.
4:31I'll do 1, 2, 3... you'll see that as you enter a number into a column, that column
4:39comes to life. The variable automatically gets named, and its properties are set by
4:44default; however, the name is VAR00001. That stands for
4:51"variable 1". If you type in more numbers... more variables get defined. Their default
5:00names will be VAR00002, VAR00003, VAR00004, and this can get a little confusing,
5:09especially if you have lots of variables and they're all named almost exactly the
5:14same thing. AND also, the default properties for each variable may not be
5:20exactly what you want, so we should learn how to change them, and we're going to do
5:25that in Variable View. To get to Variable View, click on this tab at the bottom of
5:31the screen. We can now see our four variables. In Variable View, each variable
5:38is in a row, and the properties are in columns. We will begin by changing our
5:44variable names. There are a few things that you need to know about naming
5:49variables in SPSS. First of all, you can name a variable pretty much anything
5:53that you want, but you cannot use spaces, you cannot use most special characters,
6:00and the name cannot begin with a number.
6:06If you want to use a space ,use an underscore. CamelCase works equally well
6:14where you omit the spaces, but you capitalize each new word. So let's settle
6:19on some more descriptive names. The first variable is going to be a random
6:24identification number that we call "ID." Next, we will have a variable for "Gender",
6:32and then a variable for "Height" and one more for "Weight."
6:40Now, variable names are good, but sometimes you want something even more
6:44descriptive, and in that case, add a label. Labels allow you to describe your
6:50variable with much more detail. For example, ID is a "random identification
6:57number," and this is "height in inches," and "weight in pounds." Another important
7:11property is Type. The default type is Numeric, because we're using numbers, but
7:17you can change the Type to Dates, if you're recording dates, or to Currency
7:22amounts. A String variable includes letters or words in the data, but
7:27honestly, for most of what we're going to be doing analyzing data, the numeric
7:31variable is going to be exactly what you want. Probably the only other
7:36property that you need right now is Measure. Measure specifies the scale of
7:42measurement that you will be using. Any statistics textbook will tell you
7:46that there are four scales of measurement: nominal, ordinal, interval, and
7:52ratio. In SPSS, measure nominal is called
7:57"nominal." Ordinal it's called "ordinal." But interval and ratio are both called "scale."
8:04Both of these variables are nominal. We'll leave these two set to scale. I will
8:12quickly mention some other properties. Width specifies how wide or narrow the
8:17string variable entries can be. We won't be using string variables, so we can
8:21safely ignore that. Decimals specifies how many decimal places will be shown.
8:28Two decimals is the default, but we can increase or decrease them. The nominal
8:34variables don't need decimals because they are whole numbers. Scale variables
8:39we can leave set to two decimals. Column specifies how wide or narrow the columns
8:47will appear in Data View. Change the column value to 25... and the column
8:53becomes wider. You can also adjust the width of the columns by hand in Data
8:58View...and you will see those changes reflected back in Variable View. Align
9:07helps you to set your data to be left justified, right justified, or centered.
9:12I like to leave all the numeric variables right justified. There are some other
9:17properties like Values, Missing, and Role, which are useful once we've learned the
9:24basics. So here is what you need to know: you can create a new variable simply by
9:30typing a new name. It's that easy. Give it a label, adjust the decimals,
9:40and set the measure. Leave all of the other settings at their default. And if
9:45you want to delete a variable, select it and then choose Clear. So now you know
9:57some basics for SPSS, how to create a variable, and adjust its settings. Next,
10:04we're going to begin plugging in numbers and running some simple analyses.