- Contents
- Introduction
- Before you can use SPSS on UCS, you must activate your
UCS account at the Help Desk, SMH 201. You might also need
to work in a class directory or research directory if you
are working with large files. If you log into UCS at a workstation,
you can bring up the windows version of SPSS and use the
mouse and pull down menus. If you log into UCS from another
location, using telnet, you can run SPSS on UCS (Non-graphical), i.e., execute
a SPSS syntax commands file and create a resulting output
file.
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Product Information
- We have SPSS version 6.1.3 for Solaris OS. In addition
to SPSS Base, we have SPSS Professional Statistics, SPSS
Advanced Statistics, SPSS Tables, SPSS Trends, and SPSS
Categories.
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- Documentation
- Documentation produced by SPSS (available from the Browsing
Library, SMH 201).
- SPSS 6.1 Base System User's Guide, Part 1, Unix
Version
- SPSS 6.1 Base System User's Guide, Part 2
- SPSS 6.1 Syntax Reference Guide
- SPSS Professional Statistics 6.1
- SPSS Advanced Statistics 6.1
- SPSS Tables 6.1
- SPSS Trends 6.1
- SPSS Categories 6.1
After you start SPSS, you can use the online help facility.
The Help menu is located on the top right corner
of the Data Editor window. You can search for topics,
print out topics, and bookmark frequently referenced topics
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- Running SPSS
- Close any open windows (don't minimize). For each open
window, click on the Button in the upper left hand
corner, click Close.
- Right click and hold the mouse button down to bring up
the Workspace Menu and then select Tools. Then left
click Terminal to bring up a Terminal window. You
can have several windows open at the same time. You can
resize the window or reposition the window. If you have
more than one window on the desktop, click in the window
to make it the active window (one you can type in). In the
Terminal window, type spss & Note: after you
exit SPSS, press Return to bring up the % prompt.
- The first time you start SPSS, you will see the SPSS Startup
Preferences window. Click Overwrite journal and click
OK. You can also modify SPSS options in the Data
Editor window under Options | Preferences...
- First the !SPSS Output window appears, then the Data Editor
window. To go back and forth between windows, click on the
window of interest, or View | Raise Document window
and select a particular window.
- Each time you use SPSS, you must specify the printer.
In the Data Editor window (spreadsheet window) under File
| Printer Setup..., in the Printer box, click and type
conflp (Conference Center printer) or type smhxlp
(Stephens Hall printer) and click the ASCII button
and click Continue.
- SPSS 6.1 Base System User's Guide, Part 1, Unix Version
discusses the various windows and menu choices. SPSS
6.1 Base System User's Guide, Part 2 discusses the Base
statistical routines. After you start SPSS, you can use
the online help facility. The Help menu is located
on the top right corner of the window. You can search for
topics, you can print out topics, you can bookmark frequently
referenced topics.
- To quit SPSS, under File select Exit. You
will be prompted to save the contents of the different windows.
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- Enter Data
- There are several ways to read data into the Data Editor
window. You can enter data directly, read in a SPSS data
file, or read in data from a SPSS system file.
Read Data Directly
Type numeric data directly into the columns and rows.
If you use the numeric keypad, be sure the Num Lock key
is on. To enter any data other than numeric, you must
first define the variable. To define a variable, click
on the column, then Data | Define Variable... See
below for a more complete description of Define Variable.
As you work, save your data. The first time, you must
name the file. Under File | Save, click in the
Selection box and type survey.sav (or whatever
filename you pick, followed by .sav) after /home/abc1234/
and click Continue. After that, File | Save
at various intervals. Note: SPSS can be 'tempermental'.
If you save as you go, you will not have problems losing
valuable data. Also note that the SPSS save file must
end in the file extension .sav
Define the variables (columns). Click on var0001
then Data | Define Variable... You can modify the
Variable Name (no more than 8 characters). Click Labels...
and assign a Variable Label and Value and Value Labels
(after each new value and value label, click Add).
When you are finished defining the labels, click Missing
if you want to define missing values. When you are completely
finished defining the variable, click Continue
Read SPSS Data File
An SPSS data file has the .sav file extension.
Under File | Open | Data... The Open Data file
window is displayed. By default, the contents of your
home directory are displayed. If you want to select a
file in another directory, under Filter, type the directory
and wildcard specification and click Filter. For
example, if you want to read in one of the SPSS supplied
data files, type /pkgs1/spss-6.1.3/data/*.sav Then
click one of the files and click OK. The data will
appear in the Data Editor window. Alternatively, if you
know the pathname of the file, you can enter it in the
Selection box.
Read SPSS Syntax File
When you have an external data file with many variable
labels and value labels, it is often easier to create
a SPSS syntax file and run that, rather than enter all
the values using the Data Editor and related windows.
Information on creating a SPSS syntax file is found in
SPSS 6.1 Syntax Reference Guide. Create the SPSS
syntax file using a text editor. Make sure every command
ends with a period. Include as the last command line,
the command execute. Save the file with the .sps
file extension.
Under File select Open then SPSS Syntax...
The Open SPSS Syntax window appears. By default, the contents
of your home directory are displayed. If you want to select
a file in another directory, under Filter, type the directory
and wildcard specification and click Filter Then
click on the syntax file and click OK. The program
appears in the SPSS Syntax window. Under File select
Select all and then click the run button (arrow
icon) to execute the program. The !SPSS Output window
appears. After you have examined the output, you can click
on the Data Editor window to make it the active window,
or click the Data Editor icon, or under View select
Raise Document Window and select the Data Editor
window, and continue working with the data.
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Analyze Data
- Using the mouse and pull down menus, select the command(s)
and options you want to execute.
- For example, suppose you want to run frequencies on the
variable 'vote'. Under Statistics select Summarize
then Frequencies. In the Frequencies dialog window,
click on 'vote' in the source list, click the right arrow,
which moves the variable to the variable(s) list, and click
OK.
- The results displays in the !SPSS Output window. To go
back to the Data Editor window, click on the Data Editor
window to make it the active window, or click the Data Editor
icon, or under View select Raise Document Window
and select the Data Editor window.
- Under Help select On Commands and then Statistics
menu for additional information about using any statistical
commands.
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- Print Output
- Depending upon the output options you select, your output
will appear in the Output window or Chart Carousel window.
-
- SPSS Output Window
If you have not already selected a printer, do so now
before you attempt to print your output. Bring up the
Data Editor window, and under File select Printer
Setup. In the Text Printer Setup window, click in
the Printer box and type conflp if you are in
the Conference Center or type smhxlp if you are
in the Stephens Lab. Under Output Type, click ASCII
and click Continue. Go back to the !SPSS Output
window.
Now you can view and print the contents of the Output
window. Under File select Print... In
the Print: Output1 window click OK. The output
will be printed in a fixed font on the specified printer.
SPSS Chart Carousel Window
If you want to print the contents of the SPSS Chart
Carousel window, under File select Export
Chart and you will see the Export Chart window.
Click on the Save as button and select PostScript
(*.eps) Then in the Selection box, add /chart.eps
to the filename. Click OK.
After you exit SPSS, open a terminal windows and type
dtpad chart.eps & to open the chart.eps
into a text editor window. Next, add the following line
as the last line of the file:
showpage
Save the file. In the Terminal window, print out the
file at the Conference Center with the command:
lpr -Pconflp chart.eps
or at Stephens Lab with the command:
lpr -Psmhxlp chart.eps
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Save Data or Syntax File
Save Data File
You can save the contents of the Data Editor window.
Under File select Save or Save as...
In the Save as Data window, click in the Selection box,
and type filename.sav (filename does not contain
any blanks) and click OK.
Save Syntax File
After you bring up a Statistics command dialog window
and have entered all the choices, you can click on Paste.
A Syntax window appears with your selections written in
SPSS command syntax. You can edit the command syntax or
save the commands in a file for use in subsequent sessions.
To save a syntax file, under File select Save.
In the Save as window, click in the Selection box and
type the directory path and filename and click OK.
Note that the SPSS syntax file must end in the file extension
.sps
As you work in a particular session, any additional commands
that you paste from the Commands dialog window are added
to the end of the syntax file. If you want to save the
contents of the entire session, paste the various commands
and then save the entire file before you exit SPSS.
As you work in a Syntax window, you can run the entire
file, or select particular commands to run.
The SPSS journal file contains the commands issued during
a particular session. After you exit SPSS, in a Terminal
window you can copy the journal file:
cp ~abc1234/spss.jnl ~abc1234/program1.sps
Now you can edit the file using a text editor and then
use the file in other SPSS sessions.
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Problems
- SPSS will terminate if you attempt to print without already
having selected a printer or if you attempt to print a chart
in the Chart Carousel window. Save your SPSS .sav
file at frequent intervals, select a printer when you first
start SPSS, and use the instructions in this document to
print a chart.
If the Chart Carousel window displays a blank screen, under
View select Refresh
You can only type commands or use the pull down menus in
an active window. Click anywhere in the window (left
mouse button) to make it the active window.
Look at SPSS online documentation. Under Help select
How to Use SPSS then select Frequently Asked Questions.
for answers to the most often asked questions.
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Analyzing SPSS Data Files with SAS
SAS can read an SPSS portable file. Save an SPSS data file
as a SPSS portable file with the file extension .por
and read it in a SAS program with the SPSS engine.
For example, suppose you have created the SPSS portable
file /home/abc1234/mydata.por
The following SAS program reads the data file
filename myspss '/home/abc1234/mydata.por';
ibname myspss spss;
proc print data=myspss._first_;
run;
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Working with Floppy Disks
- In SPSS, you cannot save a file directly to a floppy disk,
nor can you read a file directly from a floppy disk. You
must copy or save the file using File Manager or mtools
in a Terminal window.
- mtools
You can copy a UCS file onto a PC formatted floppy disk.
Insert the floppy disk into the workstation floppy drive.
Bring up a Terminal window and type mcopy ucs_file
a:msdos_file The command mdir a: lists the
contents of the floppy disk.
You can copy a file from a PC flormatted floppy to your
UCS account. Insert the floppy disk into the workstation
floppy drive. Bring up a Terminal window and type mcopy
a:msdos_file ucs_file The command ls lists
the contents of the UCS working directory.
Type man mtools for more information about the
utilities to access DOS disks.
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- Additional Information
- For additional information on any of these topics, contact
the Help Desk,
- Stephens Hall 201; 482-5516.
Legal Terms
- SPSS is a registered trademark of SPSS Inc.
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