Nursing Research 2

Lab 1:
Introduction to SPSS
and
Frequencies and Descriptives
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Lab Outline

Entering Data in SPSS

Importing Data
Descriptive Statistics Frequencies
Descriptive Statistics Mean & sd
Exporting Output

Important Rules in SPSS

Only one row of data for one subject.
Everything must be entered as numbers
E.g. 1=males 2=females etc

Task
You are to enter the following data into SPSS
Sex

Age

Height

Male

30

1.67

Female

23

1.60

Male

40

1.65
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Starting SPSS 16.0

Start All Programs SPSS Inc SPSS 16.0
SPSS 16.0

Enter data

Remember to convert ALL text into numerical

Example Enter 1 for Male, 2 for Female

Data view

Type all data into Data View

Variable View
Define variable name

1. Click on the variable

view.
2. Select var0001 and type
sex and press enter

Variable Name

Repeat for the remaining variable names

Condition for variable names
1. No more than 8 characters
2. Start with an alphabet
3. No special characters such as , . ! ( spacing etc)

Label
Label is used to explain variable name
It takes up to 32 characters
It allows spacing , . ? Etc

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Variable Label
Click on
Type the value
1

Type the label

Male

Click ADD
Click OK
Do the same for
2 = Female
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Missing values
Click
Type 9 at
Discrete
Missing
Values

Click OK

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Measurement

Default measurement is Scale

Click
Select the correct Measurement Type
Sex is Nominal.

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Save
Finally save the file
File Save
Name your data something meaningful to you.

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Importing from Excel

Enter the following into excel and then save the file.

Sex

Age

Weight

Female

20

48

Male

33

72

Female

50

46

I have made a mistake! What is it?

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Opening a File
File Open Data

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Importing from excel to SPSS

File Open Data

Click
Choose Excel
Browse to your File
and click Open
Leave everything
alone and click
Continue
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Data Analysis
Simple Frequencies
(Counts and Percentages)

Descriptive Stats
Cross tabulation
Use stats1.sav from MeL.
Course Documents Lab Notes Right
Click on stats1.sav and save the file.

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Frequency
1. How many males responded?
2. What percentage of the respondents are
male?
Answers:
1. _________ males responded.
2. The percentage is ____________.
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Frequency - Steps
Analyse Descriptives Frequencies

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Frequency Table

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What is the mean and sd?

Weight?
Mean =
sd =

Height?
Mean =
sd =

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Descriptives (mean and sd)

Analyse Descriptive Statistics Descriptives

You can click

Options to choose
more descriptives.

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What is the mean and sd?

Weight?
Mean =
sd =

Height?
Mean =
sd =

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Exporting Data from SPSS

Choose the Output
window
File Export

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Exporting Data Options

Click on for more options
Name
your file

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What you learnt today

How to enter data in SPSS.
How to enter data into excel and import to
SPSS.
How to do simple frequencies
How to do descriptives (mean and sd)
How to export data from SPSS.

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