IBM will pay all-cash at a price of $50/share for Chicago-based SPSS, which it says will form a major plank of its burgeoning Information on Demand (IOD) software portfolio and business analytics capabilities, including its recently-announced Business Analytics and Optimization Consulting organization, with some 4,000 consultants, and its network of Analytics Solution Centers. The deal represents a 42% premium on SPSS’s closing stock price yesterday.

Big Blue quotes analysts IDC who estimate that the worldwide market for business analytics software will grow by 4% to $25 billion this year. The firm says the moves reflect ‘growing client needs to cut costs, reduce risk, and increase profitability’.

IBM says the combination of its own analytics capability with SPSS’s portfolio of Predictive Analytics Software products (PASW) means that clients will be able to identify which customers to target, how to reach them, when to make contact and the most appropriate action to take. It also cites examples from police services and political campaigns as innovative use of the technology. SPSS will be integrated within IBM’s Information Management software portfolio but the buyer says it will continue to support and enhance SPSS technologies while allowing customers to take advantage of the broader IBM portfolio.

‘With this acquisition, we are extending our capabilities around a new level of analytics that not only provides clients with greater insight – but true foresight’ according to Ambuj Goyal, IBM’s General Manager, Information Management. ‘Predictive analytics can help clients move beyond the ’sense and respond’ mode, which can leave blind spots for strategic information in today’s fast paced environment — to ‘predict and act’ for improved business outcomes.’

IBM also announced today the launch of its Smart Analytics System, a combination of hardware and software that will help clients to analyze structured and unstructured data from multiple sources to forecast business trends. This uses business intelligence, data mining, text analysis and data warehousing software, some of it from the earlier acquisitions of Cognos and Ascential Software. IBM has made about 80 acquisitions in hardware, software and services since CEO Sam Palmisano took the reins in 2002.

Source: mrweb.com

But first I want to announce the start of an SPSS user Group on LinkedIn. Are you a LinkedIn user and an SPSS User? Please join our group!

Statistics for beginners
Moderator Fierce responds to a question by Leanne about calculating a mean from age ranges.  Leanne has conducted a survey where an age range is asked with an open top range (75+). Fierce explains to create a new variable based on the range mean and take the mean of the new variable. For the open ended he advises to take the lowest value (75).
http://www.spssforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2874

Kate used SPSSforum.com to ask advice on alternative test to the Chi Squared test. She wanted to use the chi squared test on some data, but has some categories which have a value less than five. Also some of the expected values for some categories are zero. Fierce explains her Fisher’s exact test is an alternative (ANALYZE > DESCRIPTIVES > CROSSTABS > EXACT), and statman adds it needs to be installed, this is an add-on. Statman also explains Kate that she can use the results but to note that there are case count issues.
http://www.spssforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2789

Heavy Statistics
User blondestats stated that a Pearson’s chi-square was significant for a 2 x 4 matrix. The user than calculated std. residuals for each cell to determine what cells contributed significantly to the model. None of the std. residuals were greater than +/- 1.96 even though chi-square was significant. Blondestats ask for explanation on this. User EJGumbel explains that all the Chisq test is doing is testing for deviation away from independance. What the Chisq test is testing for is non-”flatness”, which user Blondestats has. That doesn’t mean that any one cell is particularly non-flat, just that collectively they are not flat.
http://www.spssforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2876

Coding SPSS Syntax
Fierce explains user Tana which Syntax can be used the get the earliest data in a range of dates.
http://www.spssforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2813

In another post Heidi asks how to recode email addresses into a new variable based on the domain name. She is explained by Fierce how she should first use Syntax to create a new variable with the domain name in it.
http://www.spssforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2785

SPSS for beginners
User somaye has a big SPSS file (over two million records). He can only see the values of the first 100 records, the values for the other records are just question marks. Even when computing a new variable, the values in that variable are mostly question marks. He asks for advice. Fierce explains him that this might be possible because the computer / SPSS are still loading. As long as he can run analyses he should not worry. The analyses will work. If that isn’t working as well, SPSS support should be contacted.
http://www.spssforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2895

As you can see a lot of questions are solved in the forum, on many different subjects in SPSS. If you need any help, or if you want to help out others yourself, please join in on http://www.spssforum.com!

Statistics for beginners
Moderator statman and user sask respond to a question posed by user phl about response in market research. Phl explains he is using a pen and paper survey and uses a lot of methods to remind people. Suggested options to improve response are doing mixed mode (paper and internet) and several types of methods to send a reminder. Also books of Don Dillman are suggested since he gives good advice on raising your response rates.
http://www.spssforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2683

Student2008 has used SPSSforum to ask for advice on performing a priori power analysis to determine the appropriate sample size of his research study. The information Student2008 gives however is not enough to answer the question. He is directed by sasky and statman to the free to use software G*Power.
http://www.spssforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2727

Coding SPSS Syntax
Fierce gives user Administratore the SPSS Syntax to reverse the scores of a 5 point Likert-scale.
http://www.spssforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2757

Gershon asks wether it is possible to ouput charts side-by-side using syntax and if graphs can be exported. Moderator Fierce says it is not possible to put charts side-by-side, no matter if you use syntax or not. It is however possible to export your output with syntax.
http://www.spssforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2756

Modifying SPSS Output
A question of a user if it is possible to print page numbers in output, was answered by moderator statman. He explains that this option can be found under page set-up (attributes). Adding that all updates for SPSS version 16 should be installed, because there was an issue with printing for V16.
http://www.spssforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2255

Simon a.k.a. user pssjm3 runs across the problem that in V16 when he produces a table with a continuous variable, it prints to 15 decimal places. Fierce advises to have a look at the decimals for the variable and also to install the available patches and hotfixes for V16.
http://www.spssforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2492

SPSS for beginners
User Lale wanted to recode several variables as missing if variable A had a missing value as well, using Syntax. The Syntax he is using is correct, but somehow it doesn’t work. Fierce advised Lale to delete the missing value set with variable A and try again. That solved the problem. Because the value was set to missing, the Syntax refering to that value didn’t work.
http://www.spssforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2750

User saschaschwarz uses data imported from other software. For every participant in his study he has got a seperate SPSS file with the different values for the columns each in a new row, instead of all data for one participant in one row. He asks how to solve this. User pvalue advises to use compute to create a constant for each case and to aggregrate to format the data correctly.
http://www.spssforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2740

As you can see a lot of questions are solved in the forum, on many different subjects in SPSS. If you need any help, or if you want to help out others yourself, please join in on http://www.spssforum.com!

SPSS data collection software received high ratings across numerous attributes including advanced survey creation capabilities, ability to control survey branding and quota management facilities.

Mike Carroll, director of sales and marketing for MarketResearchCareers, said, “We congratulate SPSS Inc. on their number one ranking within our 2009 Annual Survey of Market Research Professionals. With more than 350 evaluations from professionals who regularly use online survey software solutions from 25 leading suppliers, the satisfaction experienced by SPSS customers is the highest in the industry.”

SPSS data collection software supports the entire survey research or feedback lifecycle, from survey design and data collection to analysis and reporting.

Patrick Quigley, global vice president, market research at SPSS Inc., said, “This ranking is a testament to the innovation, product functionality and satisfaction that SPSS data collection software provides to our customers and we are proud to be recognized.

Source: PR-inside.com

Data-entry
Moderator Fierce and user pvalue explain to user L what could cause the fact that in SPSS 15 he can only enter two digits in a field. It is probably caused by the Width defined for the variable. If that is increased, you can enter more digits than two.
http://www.spssforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2489

User soeursourire asked about the maximum amount of data that can be enter into SPSS. This is a question we get asked often. Moderators Fierce and statman explain that for SPSS versions 10 or older, 32768 variables and 2,15 billion cases are the max. Starting with SPSS version 10, the maximum number of variables is 2,15 billion, and there is no case limit.
http://www.spssforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2414

Coding SPSS syntax
In the subforum on SPSS Syntax Fierce helped Liz by explaining how to compute a new variable and use the MAX function in Syntax to get the maximum value in a variable. In the end Liz solved the initial question on how to do the iterative analysis on the data on his / her own and posted the solution in the forum.
http://www.spssforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2440

Modifying SPSS output
Balanin asked how to add line breaks and titles to SPSS output by means of SPSS Syntax. Statman explained that there are several methods and they differ per version of SPSS. For SPSS 13 you can use TITLE “Your note” or ECHO “Your note”. Balanin found the way to do a page break on the SPSSX discussion groups: TITLE “”.
http://www.spssforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2250

General
User dasher asked a question on how to set a value to the tolerance criterion when constructing multiple linear regression model. dasher states that SPSS automatically sets the tolerance to 0.0001, but for him or her that is too low. Fierce gives the option to change this for Mixed Models: When you define Dependant, Factors, etc… You can define this in the “ESTIMATION” area. dasher can’t find this option, so he has to use Syntax. Fierce helps him with that as well: “/CRITERIA=PIN(???) POUT(???) TOLERANCE (<Tolerance value here>)”
http://www.spssforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2395

As you can see a lot of questions are solved in the forum, on many different subjects in SPSS. If you need any help, or if you want to help out others yourself, please join in on http://www.spssforum.com!

What’s New in SPSS 16.0: SPSS Base
In addition to a new interface, SPSS 16.0 offers expanded analytical capabilities and programmability enhancements, enhanced data management and reporting capabilities, and greater performance through multithreaded algorithms.

Find everything about the new version on the SPSS website

To find out the availability of SPSS 16.0 in your area, contact your local office.

However, to use SPSS 15.0 under Vista, you do need to install the SPSS 15 Windows Vista HOTFIX. You need to login to download this hotfix. You can login with your own username and password, or use:

username: guest
password: guest

On the download page you can also find instructions on installation of the hotfix.

We decided to launch a forum to enable other experts in SPSS to help you out, and to balance the “workload”. The only downside to a new forum is that it is empty. So that’s why we invite you to be the first one to post your questions or tips on SPSS on the forum. No registration required!

“Hello, I need to essentially combine two variables that have been
standardized into one new variable.  Data that is present in one variable
is missing on the other and vice versa.  I tried making a new variable and
then recoding missing data so it would pull in the values from the other
variable.  Can you only recode missing values into numbers, or can I pull
an entirely different variable into it?  Basically, how do I combine two
variables into one?  Is there an easier way? Thanks!”

Well, there certainly is an easier way to combine two variables. Let’s assume you have the variables VAR00001 and VAR00002 which you want to combine into one new variable. We also assume that they do not have overlapping records, with which I mean that there is no record which has a value in both variables. To combine the two, you can use the following SPSS Syntax:

COMPUTE NEW_VAR = VAR00001.
IF (VAR00002 = 4) NEW_VAR = 4 .
IF (VAR00002 = 5) NEW_VAR = 5 .
IF (VAR00002 = 6) NEW_VAR = 6 .
EXECUTE .

The first part (COMPUTE NEW_VAR = VAR00001.) creates the new variable and copies all values from  VAR00001 into the new variable. The second part copies the values from VAR00002 to the new variable, for the values 4, 5 and 6. Very probably, your second variable contains different values, so adjust the Syntax to your needs.

When using transfor/compute – say to create a construct from a set of Likert
Scale items – does SPSS save the formula used to create the new variable, or
is it lost once you compute?

SPSS does not save the formula in your data file. It does keep the formula in mind if you keep SPSS open. So if you want to use the same formula again, but than with different variables for example, you can open the Compute screen again, and there your old formula is. But if you close SPSS and open it again, the formula will be gone.