SPSS Statistics for Dummies

by Keith McCormick, Jesus Salcedo, Aaron Poh (With)

Overview

The ultimate beginner's guide to SPSS and statistical analysis SPSS Statistics For Dummies is the fun and friendly guide to mastering SPSS. This book contains everything you need to know to get up and running quickly with this industry-leading software, with clear, helpful guidance on working with both the software and your data. Every chapter of this new edition has been updated with screenshots and steps that align with SPSS 23.0. You'll learn how to set up the software and organize your workflow, then delve deep into analysis to discover the power of SPSS capabilities. You'll discover the mechanics behind the calculations, perform predictive analysis, produce informative graphs, and maximize your data, even if it's been awhile since your last statistics class. SPSS is the leading statistical software for social sciences, marketing, health care, demography, government, education, data mining, and more. This powerful package gives you the tools you need to get more out of your data, and this book is your beginner-friendly guide to getting the most out of the software. Install and configure SPSS and learn the basics of how it works Master the process of getting data into SPSS and manipulating it to produce results See how to display data in dozens of different graphic formats to fit specific needs Make SPSS manufacture the numbers you want and take advantage of the many analysis options Discover ways to customize the SPSS interface and the look of your results, edit graphics and pivot tables, and program SPSS with Command Syntax Statistical analysis is crucial to so many industries, and accuracy and efficiency are crucial. SPSS offers you the capability to deliver, but you still must know how to take utmost advantage of the tools at your fingertips. SPSS Statistics For Dummies shows you how to handle data like a pro, with step-by-step instruction and expert advice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781118989012
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	06/02/2015
Series:	For Dummies Books
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	7.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Keith McCormick is an independent predictive analytics consultant, speaker, trainer, and author. Keith is the lead author of the IBM SPSS Modeler Cookbook. Jesus Salcedo is QueBIT's Director of Advanced Analytics Training and the former SPSS Curriculum Team Lead for IBM. Both have done extensive SPSS training. Aaron Poh is a business analyst supporting IT strategy, enterprise architecture, and analytics at Booz Allen Hamilton and serves as a director at the Institute for Supply Management–Northern Virginia.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 2

Beyond the Book 3

Where to Go from Here 3

Part I Getting Started with SPSS 5

Chapter 1 Introducing SPSS 7

Garbage In, Garbage Out: Recognizing the Importance of Good Data 7

Talking to SPSS: Can You Hear Me Now? 10

The graphical user interface 10

Syntax 11

Python programs 11

Python scripts 11

How SPSS Works 11

Getting Help When You Need It 14

Chapter 2 Installing SPSS 15

Getting SPSS onto Your Computer 15

What you need for running SPSS 16

Cranking up the installer 17

The SPSS installation sequence 17

Late registration 21

Starting SPSS 21

Chapter 3 A Simple Statistical Analysis Example 23

When the Tanana at Nenana Thaws 23

Entering the Data 24

Entering the data definitions 24

Entering the actual data 29

The Most Likely Hour 32

Transforming Data 34

The Two Kinds of Numbers 37

The Day It's Most Likely to Happen 40

Part II Getting Data in and out of SPSS 43

Chapter 4 Entering and Defining Data 45

Entering Variable Definitions on the Variable View Tab 45

Name 46

Type 47

Width 51

Decimals 51

Label 52

Values 52

Missing 53

Coloumns 54

Align 55

Measure 55

Role 56

Entering and Viewing Data Items on the Data View Tab 57

Filling In Missed Categorical Values 58

Chapter 5 Opening Data Files 63

Getting Acquainted with the SPSS File Format 63

Formatting a Text File for Input into SPSS 64

Reading Simple Data from a Text File 65

Transferring Data from Another Program 74

Reading an Excel file 75

Reading from an unknown program type 77

Saving Data and Images 77

Chapter 6 Getting Data and Results out of SPSS 81

Printing 81

Exporting to a Database 82

Using SPSS Statistics Viewer 82

Simple copy and paste 85

Creating an HTML web page file 86

Creating a text file 87

Creating an Excel file 88

Creating a Word document file 89

Creating a PowerPoint slide document 91

Creating a PDF document 92

Creating a Graphics File 94

Creating a Web Report File 96

Chapter 7 More About Defining Your Data 99

Working with Dates and Times 99

Using the Data Time Wizard 102

Creating and Using a Multiple-Response Set 105

Copying Data Properties 108

Part III Messing with Data in SPSS 113

Chapter 8 The Transform and Data Menus 115

Sorting Cases 115

Selecting the Data You Want to Look At 117

Splitting Your Data for Easier Analysis 120

Counting Case Occurrences 121

Recoding Variables 125

Recoding into different variables 126

Automatic recoding 128

Binning 130

Chapter 9 Using Functions 135

The LENGTH Function 136

The ANY Function 138

The MEAN Function and Missing Data 140

Chapter 10 Manipulating Files 143

Merging Files Adding Cases 143

Merging Files Adding Variables 148

Part IV Graphing Data 157

Chapter 11 On the Menu: Graphing Choices in SPSS 159

Building Graphs the Chart Builder Way 160

The Gallery tab 160

The Basic Elements tab 164

The Groups/Point ID tab 165

The Titles/Footnotes tab 166

The Element Properties dialog box 166

The Options dialog box 171

Building Graphs with the Graphboard Template Chooser 172

Chapter 12 Building Graphs Using the Chart Builder 175

Simple Graphs 176

Simple scatterplots 176

Simple dot plots 177

Simple bar graphs 178

Simple error bars 179

Simple histograms 181

Population pyramids 183

Stacked area charts 185

Fancy Graphs 186

Charts with multiple lines 187

Colored scatterplots 190

Scatterplot matrices 191

Stacked bar charts 192

Pie charts 194

Clustered range bar graphs 194

Differenced area graphs 196

Dual-axis graph 197

Part V Analyzing Data 199

Chapter 13 Using Descriptive Statistics 201

Looking at Levels of Measurement 201

Defining the four levels of measurement 202

Defining summary statistics 203

Focusing on Frequencies for Categorical Variables 204

Understanding Frequencies for Continuous Variables 210

Summarizing Continuous Variables with the Descriptives Procedure 214

Chapter 14 Showing Relationships between Categorical Dependent and Independent Variables 217

Testing a Hypothesis to See If It's Right 218

Conducting Inferential Tests 219

Running the Crosstabs Procedure 220

Running the chi-square test 225

Comparing column proportions 228

Adding control variables 230

Chapter 15 Showing Relationships between Continuous Dependent and Categorical Independent Variables 235

Hypothesis Testing Revisited 235

Using the Compare Means Dialog Box 237

Running the Independent-Samples T-Test Procedure 239

Running the Summary Independent-Samples T-Test Procedure 244

Chapter 16 Showing Relationships between Continuous Dependent and Independent Variables 249

Running the Bivariate Procedure 250

Running the Linear Regression Procedure 255

Part VI Making SPSS Your Own: Settings, Templates, and Looks 263

Chapter 17 Changing Settings 265

General Options 266

Language Options 268

Viewer Options 269

Data Options 270

Currency Options 272

Output Options 273

Chart Options 274

Pivot Tables Options 275

File Locations Options 276

Scripts Options 277

Multiple Imputations Options 279

Syntax Editor Options 280

Chapter 18 Editing Charts and Chart Templates 283

Changing and Editing Axes 283

Changing the axis range 283

Scaling the axis range 286

Changing Style: Lines and Symbols 287

Editing chart lines 287

Editing data points 288

Applying Templates 291

Chapter 19 Editing Tables 293

Working with TableLooks 293

Style Output 297

Pivoting Trays 299

Part VII Programming SPSS with Command Syntax 303

Chapter 20 Getting Acquainted with Syntax 305

Pasting 306

Labeling 307

Repeatedly Generating the Same Reports 308

Opening and Saving Files 309

GET 309

SAVE 310

Chapter 21 Adding Syntax to Your Toolkit 311

Your Wish Is My Command 311

Using Keywords 313

Working with Variables and Constants 313

Declaring Data 314

Commenting Your Way to Clarity 315

Executing Commands 316

Controlling Flow and Executing Conditionals 318

IF 318

DO IF 319

SELECT IF 320

Part VIII The Part of Tens 321

Chapter 22 Ten (Or So) Modules You Can Add to SPSS 323

The Advanced Statistics Module 323

The Custom Tables Module 325

The Regression Module 325

The Categories Module 325

The Data Preparation Module 326

The Decision Trees Module 326

The Forecasting Module 327

The Missing Values Module 328

The Bootstrapping Module 328

The Complex Samples Module 328

The Conjoint Module 329

The Direct Marketing Module 329

The Exact Tests Module 330

The Neural Networks Module 330

Amos 330

The Sample Power Module 332

The Visualization Designer Module 332

Chapter 23 Ten (Or So) Useful SPSS Online Resources 333

The Statistics & Consultants Group on Linkedin 333

SPSSX-L 334

IBM SPSS Statistics Certification 335

Online Videos 335

Twitter 336

Blogs 337

Online Courses with Live Instruction 338

Tutorials 339

SPSS Programming and Data Management: A Guide for SPSS and SAS Users 339

Chapter 24 Ten Professional Development Projects for SPSS Users 341

The Case Studies 341

Syntax 342

IBM SPSS Tables 342

Data Visualization 344

Better Presentations 344

R 345

Graphics Production Language 345

Output Management System 346

Python Programs 346

Python Scripting 346

Glossary 347

Index 355