Data Management with SPSS:The Basics
Getting your data into SPSS is a very easy process. SPSS can also read data files created by other major statistical packages including SAS, STATA and SYSTAT.
Data can be input into SPSS in three ways:
- Inputting data using an SPSS dataset is the easiest method. File names ending in the .sav extension represent SPSS datasets.
To open a dataset in SPSS, double-click the file name. If the file's extension is hidden, an SPSS data file can also be distinguished by this icon:
- You can also input data straight from a paper document. In this case, open up SPSS by:
- WINDOWS:
- Click the START menu.
- From the All Programs menu, select SPSS.
- MAC:
- Open a Finder window by clicking the Finder icon in the dock.
- Open the Applications folder
- Double-click the SPSS icon.
- UNIX:
- Type spss at the UNIX prompt. You must enter the command in lower-case - typing SPSS in all caps will produce an error.
Once SPSS is open, follow the instructions on the Opening & Entering SPSS Data page for creating a new SPSS data file.
- Data can also be imported from programs like Excel, Access, and SAS. To import this data using a Windows or Mac computer:
- Open SPSS
- Click the File menu
- Select Read Text Data and then select the file you wish to import.
On UNIX, SPSS or ASCII data can only be opened using the menus.
For more information on how to input data into SPSS, visit the Opening & Entering SPSS Data page or the Importing Data into SPSS page.
For information on how to manipulate your data to create total scores on a test, change the scale, re-code your data or perform other transformations, visit the Changing Your Data page.
Last updated:
February 19, 2010