Entering data in SPSS

May 1st, 2006 andris

We write this post assuming that you have already defined your variables, and that you have not already entered data in another program. If you have, please refer to the post about importing data into SPSS.

Open your SPSS file, and make sure that the tab selected in the bottom is the “Data View” tab. In this view, the rows represent the observations (or respondents, cases) and the columns represent your variables.

In this example we will use the data which you can find in our SPSSlog.com example data sheet (PDF file). One handy thing when filling in data, is to set SPSS to show the labels. You do this by choosing View -> Value Labels. If you have filled in everything from the Excel sheet, and chosen this option, your SPSS file should look like this:

When you have to enter a lot of data, be sure to Save your file now and than. Typing in data is not the coolest job, and you certainly don’t want to spent hours typing in the same data again. After you have filled in your data, don’t forget to check the data for errors!

Files used for this example:

SPSSlog.com example data sheet
SPSSlog.com SPSS file
SPSSLog.com example questionnaire

Entry Filed under: 0. SPSS, where to start, Questions and answers