The SPSS 14.0.2 patch is now available at the SPSS site. This is a regularly scheduled patch release. You can find a description of the patch and installation instructions at the above link. The patch is for the English version of SPSS 14, other languages will be available soon. You have to login, but you can also use “guest” as your userid and password to access the patch.
11 comments April 12th, 2006
Zakya asked us another question. After getting his Excel data into SPSS, he wanted to find possible correlations between a couple of variables. Zakya, please find below an explanation on finding correlations using the Pearson correlation analysis.
The Pearson correlation analysis test can be used to find correlations between responses of nominal variables.
A correlation analysis is performed to quantify the strength of association between two numeric variables. In the following task we will perform Pearson correlation analysis. The variables used in the analysis are chicken, car, house, and job.
Select Analyze>Correlate>Bivariate. This opens the Bivariate Correlations dialog box. The numeric variables in your data file appear on the source list on the left side of the screen.
Select chicken, car, house, and job from the list and click the arrow box. The variables will be pasted into the selection box. The options Pearson and Two-tailed are selected by default.
Click OK.
A symmetric matrix with Pearson correlation as given below will be displayed on the screen. Along with Pearson r, the number of cases and probability values are also displayed
This is the main matrix of the Pearson’s output. Variables have been arranged in a matrix such that where their columns/rows intersect there are numbers that tell about the statistical interaction between the variables. Three pieces of information are provided in each cell — the Pearson correlation, the significance, and number of cases. When a variable interacts with itself, the correlation will obviously be 1.00. No significance is given in these cases.
Notice that the .775 has asterisks by it. As is indicated at the bottom of the output this is how SPSS indicates significant interactions for you. Notice the significance is under 0.05 (.041).
5 comments April 11th, 2006
This weekend we got a question from Zakya, who desperately needs information on how to import Excel data into SPSS.
Actually, importing from SPSS is not that hard at all. But before you import, there are some steps to take to make importing more easy:
- Close the Excel file (otherwise SPSS will give an error message)
- Make a header row in Excel with column names (keep them brief and descriptive)
- Do not mix up numbers and text in the same column
In SPSS, select Open -> File from the menu. In the Open file dialog, select Excel file as file type. Browse to the right directory and select the Excel file. Click Open. After this, you will get a new dialog (Hurray!) “Opening Excel Data Source”. If you have made a header row with column names, check the box “Read variable names from the first row of data”. If you do not have other irrelevant data in your Excel file, just click OK. Otherwise select the right worksheet and range, and click OK. If everything went allright, you now have your data in SPSS. Now you can start adjusting the Variables to the right types etc.
3 comments April 10th, 2006 andris
We got a question from Alex about the pinning option in the new spss version 14.0.0
“I’ve just moved to version 14.0.0 and am looking for the “pin”
function, which allows all columns to the left of the selected column to
be locked in place while moving through the columns to the right. As I
recall, that function used to be available by right clicking on the
right-most column to be locked. But, I can’t find that function now and
I don’t find it under the “help”-funtion. Is it really gone?”
Lucky for you the function is not gone. The old somewhat limited “pinning” feature has been replaced with far more flexible pane splitting. Go the help index and type “pane splitter” for a description on how this works. You can also use the Window>Split menu item.
1 comment April 9th, 2006
We got a question from Tom:
“I’m doing research. In this research I had interviews with 20 different
persons. The interviews were open questions (so not only yes/no answers,
but also yes/no/sometimes/only when.. etc)
I am looking for a way to translate the answers into SPSS, so I can make
graphs and percentages for each question (For example: 25% answered yes, 30%
answered no, 2 % answered only when etc.)
Is there an easy way to deal with my problem?”
To begin, SPSS is not meant for analyzing open answers. You can not easily make graphs out of this kind of data. SPSS maximum character input for string fields (used for open answers) is 255. This means you cannot input long pieces of code in the SPSS file.
The only way to create graphs and tables (with counts, percentages etc.) is to categorise the answers the respondents gave you. If you have for example a question with the answers:
Q: Do you you use product 3?
A’s:
- Yes, I have used it for three years now, mainly for purpose X, Y and Z
- No, I have no idea what product you are talking about. But for purpose Z and B I often use product 4 from this and this supplier….
- Yes, I hate to admit it, but I use it
- Yes, I use it all day, for purpose Z
- Yes, for purpose Z
- No, but would like to use it
You could categorise it into the following variables:
1 = Yes, often
2 = Yes, sometimes
3 = No, but I am interested
4 = No, and not interest to use it
April 7th, 2006 andris
This week Nouredine sent us the following question:
“I would like to receive some information and instructions on how i can
conduct an analyse on SPSS with an output that is a priority matrix (
relevance vs score).”
A priority matrix, also called “Quadrant analysis” or “Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA)”, is a comparison chart which shows the importance ranking and the mean satisfaction of a number of elements. In SPSS there is no graph that has the same name, but you can get this kind of matrix by creating a Scatter plot. In our previous post your find a link to a video instruction on how to make a scatter plot.
The statistics department of the Texas A&M university has a great website, were you can watch spss video lessons. At this site you can watch how to split a file or how to make a scatter plot.
6 comments March 31st, 2006
Question: Hi all!
After a SPLIT command applied to my file, I would like each generated subset
of data to be saved in a different .sav file.
Is there an easy way to do that using SAVE or XSAVE?
Even if SPSS can manage each subset separately, I did not find how to save
each subset separately.
Do not hesitate if I am not clear enough or if you need more information.
My data is organized as follows:
Source Destination other variable
david Stefan 123
Nico Bruce 213
Nico Stefan 333
Stefan Nico 2
david Stefan 5
Stefan Nico 56
I want to split my file according to each unique combination
, hence, I use:
SPLIT FILE SEPARATE BY Source Destination.
Hence I have my data sorted as I need:
Source Destination other variable
david Stefan 123
david Stefan 5
Nico Bruce 213
Nico Stefan 333
Stefan Nico 2
Stefan Nico 56
Now, what I need, is to have all the records for each distinct pairto a different file.
Assuming that my first file is called file.sav, I would like to have:
file_david_Stefan.sav with all records with
file_Nico_Bruce.sav with all records with
file_Nico_Stefan.sav with all records with
and so on…Thanks you for your help.
Answer: Here is the better way.DO IF source=?david? and destination=’Stefan’.
XSAVE OUTFILE=?file_david_Stefan.sav?.
ELSE IF source=?Nico? and destination=’Bruce’.
XSAVE OUTFILE=?file_Nico_Bruce.sav?.
ELSE IF…
etc.
Do you also need an answer on your spss question, submit your question here.
2 comments March 26th, 2006
Software companies MicroStrategy Inc. and SPSS Inc. said on Wednesday they have formed an alliance for business development and cooperative marketing.
The two companies signed an agreement to combine MicroStrategy’s business intelligence technology with SPSS’ predictive analytics software, they said in a statement. No financial details were given.
(source: Reuters)
Sometimes you want to split your data file in separate groups for analysis
Its a easy thing to do in SPSS. From the menus choose:
Data > Split File
This opens the Split File dialog box.
Select Compare groups or Organize output by groups. The examples following these steps show the differences between these two options.
Select Gender (gender) to split the file into separate groups for these variables. You can use numeric, short string, and long string variables as grouping variables. A separate analysis is performed for each subgroup defined by the grouping variables. If you select multiple grouping variables, the order in which they appear on the Groups Based On list determines the manner in which cases are grouped.
If you select Compare groups and run the Frequencies procedure, a single pivot table is created.
If you select Organize output by groups and run the Frequencies procedure, two pivot tables are created: one for females and one for males.
2 comments March 22nd, 2006