The document provides an introduction to the SPSS interface, detailing how to enter, import, and clean data within the software. It covers the key components of the data and variable views, as well as steps for performing basic statistical analyses and generating descriptive statistics. Additionally, it includes instructions for managing variable characteristics and ensuring data integrity after import.

1. Introduction to the
SPSS Interface
Dr. Mohammed Alahmed
Ph.D. in Biostatistics
alahmed@ksu.edu.sa
(011) 4674108
1

2. Contents
• SPSS interface:
– Data view and Variable view
• How to enter data in SPSS
• How to import external data into SPSS
• How to clean and edit data
• How to get descriptive statistics
2

3. SPSS interface
• Data view
– The place to enter data
– Columns: variables
– Rows: records
• Variable view
– The place to enter variables
– List of all variables
– Characteristics of all variables
3

4. 4
Enter data in SPSS directly

5. Example: Hospital-stay data
5

6. 6
Columns:
variables
Rows:
cases
Under Data
View

7. Enter Variables
7
1. Click this
Window
1. Click Variable View
2. Type variable name
under Name column
(AGE).
NOTE: Variable name
can be 64 bytes long,
and the first
character must be a
letter or one of the
characters @, #, or
$.
3. Type: Numeric,
string, etc.
4. Label: description of
variables.
1. Click Variable View
2. Type variable name
under Name column
(AGE).
NOTE: Variable name
can be 64 bytes long,
and the first
character must be a
letter or one of the
characters @, #, or
$.
3. Type: Numeric,
string, etc.
4. Label: description of
variables.
2. Type
variable
name
3. Type:
numeric or
string
4.
Description
of variable

8. Enter variables
8
Based on your code
book!

9. Enter cases
9

10. Import data from Excel
• Select File Open Data
• Choose Excel as file type
• Select the file you want to import
• Then click Open
10

11. Open Excel files in SPSS
11

12. Continue
12
Save
this file
as
SPSS
data

13. Clean data after import data files
• Run cases summaries for all variables
• Run frequency for qualitative variables
and Descriptives for quantitative
variables
• Check outputs to see if you have variables
with wrong values.
• Check missing values and physical surveys
if you use paper surveys, and make sure
they are real missing.
• Sometimes, you need to recode string
variables into numeric variables 13

14. cases summaries
14

15. 15

16. 16

17. Basic Statistical Analysis
• Descriptive statistics:
1. Find wrong entries
2. Have basic knowledge about the
sample and targeted variables in a
study
3. Summarize data.
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18. 18
Analyze Descriptive statistics Frequency
Qualitative Variables

19. 19

20. 20

21. 21
Analyze Descriptive statistics Descriptives
Quantitative Variables

22. 22
Histogram Box-Plot
AGE

23. 23
Duration of Stay
Histogram Box-Plot