What is Factor Analysis? Quick Data Check Running Factor Analysis in SPSS SPSS Factor Analysis Output Adding Factor Scores to Our Data What is Factor Analysis? Factor analysis is a statistical technique for identifying which underlying factors are measured by a (much larger) number of observed variables.Such “underlying factors” are often variables that are difficult […]
SPSS Output Tables SPSS Output Charts SPSS Output to WORD SPSS Output to Excel SPSS Output Tricks Exporting SPSS output is usually easier and faster than copy-pasting SPSS Output Introduction In SPSS, we usually work from 3 windows. These are the data editor window ; the syntax editor window ; the output viewer window . Our previous tutorials discussed the data […]
I’m a pretty happy SPSS user but since a while, the software has been telling me that “Your license will expire in … days.” I had already extended my license with another year but -apparently- SPSS seemed to be oblivious to that. It took me some trial and error to troubleshoot the issue. Since I’m running this […]
Definition An SPSS macro is a function defined by the user in order to automate some task(s). SPSS Macro Syntax As discussed earlier, Python uses program blocks that start with BEGIN PROGRAM. and end with END PROGRAM.. A different kind of program block may start with DEFINE and end with !ENDDEFINE.. Between these commands you’ll find code that looks a lot like basic […]
This tutorial explains what SPSS datasets are. For a practical tutorial on working with datasets, see SPSS Datasets Tutorial 1 – Basics. Right, now an SPSS dataset is SPSS data that only exists in your computer’s working memory (RAM). Changes you make to it are discarded unless it’s saved as a data file. SPSS Data File and Dataset […]
Definition SPSS’ ANY is used to compare one value to a set of other values. SPSS Any – Basics ANY(a,b,c[,d…]) checks whether a is equal to any of the b, c[,d…]. Note that the first value is compared to the second through the last values. Each of these can either be a constant (“6”) or a variable (“v1”) over respondents. SPSS Any – Examples Suppose […]
Summary How to draw one or many samples from your data in SPSS? This tutorial demonstrates some simple ways for doing so. We’ll point out some tips, tricks and pitfalls along the way. Let’s get started and create some test data by running the syntax below. SPSS Syntax for Creating Test Data *Create test data with […]
Summary SPSS table templates are files that tell SPSS how to style one, many or all tables that appear in the output viewer window. Some examples of such styling are the colors and sizes of fonts and borders. The figure below shows a DESCRIPTIVES table with and without a table template applied to it. Just like SPSS data […]
There’s several ways to open SPSS data files. The right way, however, is by syntax. The way we typically do so in practice may differ somewhat from what you’re used to. But give it a shot. It keeps things nicely organized and this eventually saves time and effort. We’ll use employees.sav throughout. Creating a Project Folder […]
Summary Some SPSS users argue that it’s not really necessary to work from syntax. If something goes wrong or a client doesn’t believe your results, you can always recover what you did from your journal file. However, the journal file is no reasonable substitute for syntax. This tutorial explains why. 1. Essential Modifications May be Missing Manual […]
SPSS DO REPEAT – Simple Tutorial & Examples SPSS LOOP – Quick Tutorial & Examples SPSS VECTOR – Quick Tutorial
Summary ADD FILES is an SPSS command that’s mainly used for merging data sources holding similar variables but different cases. (For the same cases but different variables, see MATCH FILES.) A second use is for reordering and/or dropping variables in a single dataset. SPSS Add Files Matches Data Sources on Variable Names SPSS Add Files – Basic Usage The ADD FILES command […]
Question “I’d like to completely remove the value label from a value for many variables at once. Is there an easy way to accomplish that?” SPSS Python Syntax Example begin program. variables = ‘v1 to v5‘ # Specify variables here. value = 3 # Specify value to unlabel here. import spss,spssaux vDict = spssaux.VariableDict(caseless = True) varList […]
Introduction SPSS dataset logic is not always logical. However, for working proficiently with datasets, just a handful of basics is sufficient. These are explained in this tutorial. This tutorial focuses on working with SPSS datasets. For a definition and some background on datasets, see SPSS Datasets. Working with SPSS Datasets It is recommended you follow along with the […]
Definition SPSS Insert is a command for running syntax files from within another syntax file. This may help keeping your syntax organized. SPSS Insert Command – Why Use It? Executing all of your commands from syntax may be the single best practice for working with SPSS. One of the reasons is that you can correct steps early […]
Tables with statistics (means, sums and many more) for metric variables are easily created with DESCRIPTIVES. For reporting such descriptives for groups of cases separately, try MEANS. Frequency distributions and statistics (median, percentiles and more) for categorical variables are generated with FREQUENCIES. Frequencies or percentages for combinations of two or more categorical variables are created with CROSSTABS, which can also run chi-square tests. […]
A best practice in SPSS is to open and save all files with syntax. Like so, it can be easily seen which syntax was run on which data. One could use the syntax generated by Paste for this but there’s a much shorter and better option. Disadvantages of the Default Syntax Each time you open a data file from […]
One of the many things we love about SPSS is how easily it’s customized and extended with powerful new features. For instance, creating your own toolbar is utterly simple and may save a lot of time and effort. With SPSS version 18, SPSS Extension Bundles were introduced: create completely new SPSS commands, build a menu dialog for them and easily share your […]
Most real world data contain some (or many) missing values. It’s always a good idea to inspect the amount of missingness for avoiding unpleasant surprises later on. In order to do so, SPSS has some missing values functions that are mostly used with COMPUTE, IF AND DO IF. This tutorial demonstrates how to use them effectively. We’ll do so […]
SPSS AUTORECODE – Minimal Example autorecode str_var1 str_var2 str_var3 /into num_var1 num_var2 num_var3. Introduction This tutorial explains SPSS’ AUTORECODE command and shows how to use it properly on nominal_strings.sav, a screenshot of which is shown below. We recommend downloading this data file and following along with the steps in this tutorial. SPSS AUTORECODE – What Is It? […]
