A Guide to Analysing Research Data Using SPSS

Introduction

Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, or SPSS, is a software package used to analyse statistical data. SPSS initially served the field of social sciences, however, its use has since expanded into other markets. It is commonly used in healthcare, marketing, and education research.

Data analysis can be performed using SPSS help for descriptive and bivariate statistics, numeral outcome predictions and group identification. SPSS also provides data transformation capabilities, graphing and direct marketing tools.

As the main window of the software interface, it displays open data like a spreadsheet. The secondary variable view displays the metadata of variables and data entries in the data files.

This software package was created in 1968 by SPSS Inc. and acquired by IBM in 2009. Despite the software being renamed IBM SPSS Statistics, it is still commonly known as SPSS.

SPSS can be used to analyse a wide variety of data types. The most common sources are survey results, company databases, Google Analytics, scientific research results, and server log files. The program supports both the analysis and modification of many kinds of data, as well as almost any format of structured data. In addition to spreadsheets and plain text files, the software supports SQL, SATA, and SAS databases.

Steps to Using SPSS

Following are a few steps about using SPSS for data analysis that can help anyone working with the software speed up their work:

1. If you are working with the technology, you must first ensure that any data transmitted to the software is formatted correctly.
2. When the Data Editor window appears, launch the SPSS platform.
3. In the list dialogue box, make sure the variable names are in alphabetical order.
4. If the variable names are not in the desired order, sort them.
5. Select the Options box from the Edit menu.
6. Under the General tab, select Display Labels from the Variables group.
7. Click OK and approve it a second time after choosing alphabetically.
8. You can choose a Data File from the File menu by selecting the Open File dialogue.
9. Go to the View menu and select Value Labels.
10. Go to the Analyse menu, select Descriptive Statistics, and then click Frequencies. An analysis report will be generated.

Conclusion

Using SPSS data analysis isn’t all that difficult, but it may be confusing to those who haven’t used it before. One of the most important things to remember about this technology is that it can handle almost any type of file, but this is not always a plus. When it comes to analysing data, SPSS is a completely comprehensive system that tabulates reports using any information. It is important to provide the data in the correct format beforehand, so writing the report will be easier.