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SPSS and Survey Analysis Workshop
[Page currently being broken up into separate pages for each section, so may appear in duplicate until finalised: last update 5 November 2011]
Survey Analysis Workshop
The original Survey Analysis Workshop (1976 - 1992) was a professional practice-oriented hands-on course (postgraduate, part-time, evening) in the capture, management and analysis of data from questionnaire surveys. It was based on the survey analysis component of the SSRC Summer Schools in Survey Methods (1970 - 1976: 3-week full-time residential). The course was aimed at university lecturers, academic, public and voluntary sector social researchers and (unemployed) graduates in sociology, politics, planning and other social sciences, many of whom had little or no previous experience of computing or statistics . An undergraduate version was also compulsory for sophomores on the BSc Social Research (full-time) and strongly recommended for BSc Sociology .
Learning materials developed for these courses (using SPSS-X 4 to 8 on a Vax mainframe) have now been updated, converted and greatly expanded for SPSS for Windows on a PC. See Background to current project
Most of my tutorials use SPSS syntax (its English-language-like command language) in preference to the drop-down menus available from the graphic user interface (GUI). Syntax is much clearer, quicker and easier for most basic operations and it will help you to learn (and remember) more about the process and logic involved.
Unfortunately, syntax is not implemented in the Student Version (which is owned
by Prentice-Hall and is only available bundled with certain textbooks) It also has other limitations, but some sites offer (trial, time-limited) free downloads of earlier versions. However, most users will have access to the full version via their school and workplace or by purchasing the Gradpack version (specially priced for students: was time-limited to 6 or 12 months, but now possibly $200 for 4 years). Full details are on IBM SPSS Solutions for Education and there is a comparison table showing what is available in each version.
Even without access to syntax (or even to SPSS) you will learn and remember a lot
about survey analysis simply by following the tutorials on this site. For point-and-click addicts, many examples and exercises are also replicated using the menus. To date there are more than 400 pages of tutorials (with lots more in preparation): they follow a natural progression through the research process and use a gentle, step-by-step approach, with full colour screenshots at each step.
All tutorials and materials are available as free downloads They comprise gentle, step-by-step demonstrations (with full colour screenshots at each step) using appropriately colour-coded text and colour graphics, each step worked in SPSS syntax with many examples also replicated using the drop-down menus. There are many more tutorials for later stages to write and upload, but if you work through what's already there, you should be able to move around easily inside SPSS. You might even become fluent in the SPSS command language and come over to the syntax camp!
All data sets come from real surveys on real people: there are no artificial data.
Learning materials developed for these courses (using SPSS-X 4 to 8 on a Vax mainframe) have now been updated, converted and greatly expanded for SPSS for Windows on a PC. See Background to current project
Most of my tutorials use SPSS syntax (its English-language-like command language) in preference to the drop-down menus available from the graphic user interface (GUI). Syntax is much clearer, quicker and easier for most basic operations and it will help you to learn (and remember) more about the process and logic involved.
Unfortunately, syntax is not implemented in the Student Version (which is owned
by Prentice-Hall and is only available bundled with certain textbooks) It also has other limitations, but some sites offer (trial, time-limited) free downloads of earlier versions. However, most users will have access to the full version via their school and workplace or by purchasing the Gradpack version (specially priced for students: was time-limited to 6 or 12 months, but now possibly $200 for 4 years). Full details are on IBM SPSS Solutions for Education and there is a comparison table showing what is available in each version.
Even without access to syntax (or even to SPSS) you will learn and remember a lot
about survey analysis simply by following the tutorials on this site. For point-and-click addicts, many examples and exercises are also replicated using the menus. To date there are more than 400 pages of tutorials (with lots more in preparation): they follow a natural progression through the research process and use a gentle, step-by-step approach, with full colour screenshots at each step.
All tutorials and materials are available as free downloads They comprise gentle, step-by-step demonstrations (with full colour screenshots at each step) using appropriately colour-coded text and colour graphics, each step worked in SPSS syntax with many examples also replicated using the drop-down menus. There are many more tutorials for later stages to write and upload, but if you work through what's already there, you should be able to move around easily inside SPSS. You might even become fluent in the SPSS command language and come over to the syntax camp!
All data sets come from real surveys on real people: there are no artificial data.
SPSS
SPSS consists of an integrated series of computer programs which enable the user to read data from questionnaire surveys and other sources (e.g. administrative records) to manipulate them in various ways and to produce a wide range of statistical analyses and reports.
Follow links 1 to 3 below before diving in.
1: What is SPSS?
2: How I discovered SPSS (in at the deep end, 1972)
3: Note on SPSS Tutorials
4: Summary guide to SPSS tutorials
5: Detailed guide to SPSS tutorials
If you want to know about survey analysis before SPSS and the early history of SPSS, or see fully worked comparisons of syntax with drop-down menus for the same analyses and examples of cumbersome as opposed to elegant use of SPSS syntax, check out:.
6: Old Dog, Old Tricks
This presentation (77 pages) with 3 appendices (33 pages) and 5 accompanying slide-shows, was prepared for the annual get-together of ASSESS (an independent group of SPSS users in Europe) at York University in 2006. It covers: survey analysis before SPSS, history and development of SPSS, uses and abuses of SPSS in major surveys, SPSS syntax versus drop-down menus from the graphic user interface (GUI) and replication of many exercises from Julie Pallant's SPSS Survival Manual using syntax instead of the drop-down menu examples in the book.
For more on the history and background of SPSS, check out Wikipedia article on SPSS
Follow links 1 to 3 below before diving in.
1: What is SPSS?
2: How I discovered SPSS (in at the deep end, 1972)
3: Note on SPSS Tutorials
4: Summary guide to SPSS tutorials
5: Detailed guide to SPSS tutorials
If you want to know about survey analysis before SPSS and the early history of SPSS, or see fully worked comparisons of syntax with drop-down menus for the same analyses and examples of cumbersome as opposed to elegant use of SPSS syntax, check out:.
6: Old Dog, Old Tricks
This presentation (77 pages) with 3 appendices (33 pages) and 5 accompanying slide-shows, was prepared for the annual get-together of ASSESS (an independent group of SPSS users in Europe) at York University in 2006. It covers: survey analysis before SPSS, history and development of SPSS, uses and abuses of SPSS in major surveys, SPSS syntax versus drop-down menus from the graphic user interface (GUI) and replication of many exercises from Julie Pallant's SPSS Survival Manual using syntax instead of the drop-down menu examples in the book.
For more on the history and background of SPSS, check out Wikipedia article on SPSS
SPSS resources on this site
1: Data sets used
2: Statistical notes specially written to accompany this course.
3: List of selected SPSS textbooks with comments and/or reviews
4: On-line introductions and tutorials for SPSS Links to useful sites for on-line SPSS
intros, tutorials, help, blogs etc.
2: Statistical notes specially written to accompany this course.
3: List of selected SPSS textbooks with comments and/or reviews
4: On-line introductions and tutorials for SPSS Links to useful sites for on-line SPSS
intros, tutorials, help, blogs etc.
