SPSS Statistics For Dummies

The fun and friendly guide to mastering IBM's Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

Written by an author team with a combined 55 years of experience using SPSS, this updated guide takes the guesswork out of the subject and helps you get the most out of using the leader in predictive analysis.

Covering the latest release and updates to SPSS 27.0, and including more than 150 pages of basic statistical theory, it helps you understand the mechanics behind the calculations, perform predictive analysis, produce informative graphs, and more. You'll even dabble in programming as you expand SPSS functionality to suit your specific needs.

• Master the fundamental mechanics of SPSS

• Learn how to get data into and out of the program

• Graph and analyze your data more accurately and efficiently

• Program SPSS with Command Syntax

Get ready to start handling data like a pro--with step-by-step instruction and expert advice!

Autorentext

Jesus Salcedo is an independent statistical and data-mining consultant who has been using SPSS products for more than 25 years. He has written numerous SPSS courses and trained thousands of users. Keith McCormick has been all over the world training and consulting in all things SPSS, statistics, and data mining. He now authors courses on the LinkedIn Learning platform and coaches executives on how to effectively manage their analytics teams.

Inhalt
Introduction 1

About This Book 1

About the Fourth Edition 2

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond the Book 3

Where to Go from Here 3

Part 1: Getting Started with SPSS 5

Chapter 1: Introducing SPSS 7

SPSS's Job, Our Job, and Your Job 7

SPSS's job 8

Our job 8

Your job 9

Garbage In, Garbage Out: Recognizing the Importance of Good Data 9

Talking to SPSS: Can You Hear Me Now? 12

The graphical user interface 12

Syntax 12

Programmability 13

How SPSS works 13

Getting Help When You Need It 15

Chapter 2: Finding the Best SPSS for You 17

Campus Editions 19

Subscription Plans 20

Commercial Editions 22

What's New in Version 27 24

Chapter 3: Getting to Know SPSS by Running a Simple Session 25

Opening a Dataset 25

Running an Analysis 27

Interpreting Results 30

Creating Graphs 33

Investigating Data 37

Part 2: Getting Data into and out of SPSS 43

Chapter 4: Understanding SPSS Data: Defining Metadata 45

Entering Variable Definitions on the Variable View Tab 46

Name 47

Type 47

Width 51

Decimals 52

Label 52

Values 53

Missing 54

Columns 55

Align 55

Measure 55

Role 56

Entering and Viewing Data Items on the Data View Tab 56

Chapter 5: Opening Data Files 59

Getting Acquainted with the SPSS File Format 59

Reading Simple Data from a Text File 60

Transferring Data from Another Program 65

Reading an Excel file 67

Reading from an unknown program type 68

Saving Data 69

Chapter 6: Getting Data and Results from SPSS 71

Exporting Data to Another Program 71

Navigating SPSS Statistics Viewer 72

Moving SPSS Output to Other Applications 74

Copying and pasting output 74

Exporting output 75

Printing Data 80

Chapter 7: More about Defining Your Data 81

Working with Dates and Times 82

Using the Date and Time Wizard 84

Creating and Using a Multiple-Response Set 86

Copying Data Properties 90

Part 3: Messing with Data in SPSS 95

Chapter 8: The Transform and Data Menus 97

Sorting Cases 97

Selecting the Data You Want to Look At 100

Splitting Data for Easier Analysis 103

Counting Case Occurrences 104

Recoding Variables 107

Recoding into different variables 107

Automatic recoding 110

Binning 113

Optimal Binning 117

Chapter 9: Computing New Variables 119

Calculating a New Variable with a Formula 120

Calculating a New Variable with a Condition 122

Using System Variables 124

Contrasting $Sysmis with SYSMIS 125

Understanding Missing Data in Formulas 127

Efficiently Calculating with Multiple Formulas 129

Chapter 10: Some Useful Functions 133

The LENGTH Function 134

The ANY Function 137

The MEAN Function and Missing Data 139

RND, TRUNC, and MOD 141

Logicals, the MISSING Function, and the NOT Function 143

String Parsing and Nesting Functions 144

Calculating Lags 146 Chapter 11: Combining Files<b...