- Welcome
- Important notice
- About the author
- About this site
- Site guide + Search box
- Dedications
- Acknowledgments
- My personal pantheon (of the great and the good in survey research)
- Recent and planned activities
- Textbooks for Research Methods and Data Analysis
- 1: Survey Analysis Workshop (SPSS)
- 1a: Statistical concepts and methods
- 1b: Teaching with Survey Data
- 1c: Developing research projects using survey data
- 1d: Workshop and presentations for ASSESS (SPSS users in Europe)
- 2: Survey Research Practice
- 2a: Survey Research Methodology, Practice and Training
- 2b: Major survey series
- 3: Subjective Social Indicators (Quality of Life)
- 4: Survey Unit, Social Science Research Council (UK)
- 5a: Polytechnic of North London (1976-1992)
- 5b: Survey Research Unit (1978-1992)
- Village life in Normandy
- Contact
- Origins of the British Crime Survey
- British Crime Survey
Summary guide to SPSS tutorials
[Page last updated 6 March 2020]
The tutorials and exercises are arranged in four main blocks, following the usual research sequence of data capture, data processing and data analysis, with occasional (cynical, wise and experienced) comments thrown in from time to time on problem formulation, research design and survey practice as well as on how SPSS works (or not!).
[NB: Here and throughout this site SPSS refers to IBM® SPSS® Statistics software]
Most exercises and examples relate to SPSS/PASW 18 or IBM SPSS Statistics 19 -24: a few early ones use SPSS 15, but all SPSS syntax examples should work with earlier releases (eg SPSS 11). Only the displays are different (see screenshots). There's a pencil and paper exercise for you to complete at the beginning, but after that, all tutorials and exercises use actual data from real (major) surveys.
[NB: All downloadable tutorials are set in 11-point Arial and optimised for printing on European A4 sheet size (297 x 210 mm). They are legible even if printed two pages to a sheet. Files prepared up to June 2011 are in *.doc format from Word 2003. As of March 2014 I have used Word 2013 , later Word 2016, which can save files in genuine *.pdf format with fully functioning hyperlinks. These retain all original page formatting and are much quicker to display. Files in *.doc or *.docx format will gradually be replaced by files in *.pdf format]
Catalogue of SPSS tutorials is an Excel *.xlms file containing a full listing (with hyperlinks) of all tutorial files.[may not be completely up-to-date]
Guide to pop-out menus shows all the screenshots for menus and sub-menus for Survey Analysis Workshop [may not be completely up-to-date and site has been re-organised, so needs a re-write, but still useful to show you what to expect]
There are more than 750 pages of downloadable tutorials arranged in four blocks.
Block 1: From questionnaire to SPSS saved file
1.1: The language of survey analysis
1.2: How do data relate to questionnaires?
1.3: Reading raw data into SPSS
1.4: Completing your data dictionary
1.5: Utilities [still in preparation]
Block 2: Analysing one variable
2.1: Nominal and ordinal variables
2.2: Interval scale variables
2.3: Data transformations
Block 3: Analysing two variables (and sometimes three)
3.1 Contingency tables
3.2 Three variables
3.3 Multiple response
3.4 Comparing means
3.5: Conditional transformations
Block 4: Hypothesis testing
[Still in preparation: provisional contents listed below: page also has links to some useful resources for statistical concepts]
Hypothesis testing
4.2 t-test and one way anova
4.3 Testing differences between three or more means
4.3 Chi-square (has one tutorial)
4.4 Regression and correlation
4.5 Association, structure and cause
SPSS files and documentation used for tutorials and exercises
This a collection of raw data, SPSS syntax and SPSS saved files for you to download as and when needed and store on your own computer or on a CD or memory stick. Facsimile questionnaires are not included here, but extracts and/or links are provided in tutorials as and when necessary.
You can either download and save them to a USB stick or download and open them immediately in SPSS. Parts of some of them still need tidying up (eg measurement level, labelling) but exercises will deal with this. You are welcome to download and peruse them at your leisure to get a feel for what SPSS saved files look like inside. Other surveys will be added directly to this site or via links to other sites.
Statistical concepts and methods
As well as statistics notes specially written for the original course, and aimed at anxious and fearful, but keen-to-learn students, many with no previous experience of statistics or computing, there are links to on-line resources suitable for beginners.
[NB: Here and throughout this site SPSS refers to IBM® SPSS® Statistics software]
Most exercises and examples relate to SPSS/PASW 18 or IBM SPSS Statistics 19 -24: a few early ones use SPSS 15, but all SPSS syntax examples should work with earlier releases (eg SPSS 11). Only the displays are different (see screenshots). There's a pencil and paper exercise for you to complete at the beginning, but after that, all tutorials and exercises use actual data from real (major) surveys.
[NB: All downloadable tutorials are set in 11-point Arial and optimised for printing on European A4 sheet size (297 x 210 mm). They are legible even if printed two pages to a sheet. Files prepared up to June 2011 are in *.doc format from Word 2003. As of March 2014 I have used Word 2013 , later Word 2016, which can save files in genuine *.pdf format with fully functioning hyperlinks. These retain all original page formatting and are much quicker to display. Files in *.doc or *.docx format will gradually be replaced by files in *.pdf format]
Catalogue of SPSS tutorials is an Excel *.xlms file containing a full listing (with hyperlinks) of all tutorial files.[may not be completely up-to-date]
Guide to pop-out menus shows all the screenshots for menus and sub-menus for Survey Analysis Workshop [may not be completely up-to-date and site has been re-organised, so needs a re-write, but still useful to show you what to expect]
There are more than 750 pages of downloadable tutorials arranged in four blocks.
Block 1: From questionnaire to SPSS saved file
1.1: The language of survey analysis
1.2: How do data relate to questionnaires?
1.3: Reading raw data into SPSS
1.4: Completing your data dictionary
1.5: Utilities [still in preparation]
Block 2: Analysing one variable
2.1: Nominal and ordinal variables
2.2: Interval scale variables
2.3: Data transformations
Block 3: Analysing two variables (and sometimes three)
3.1 Contingency tables
3.2 Three variables
3.3 Multiple response
3.4 Comparing means
3.5: Conditional transformations
Block 4: Hypothesis testing
[Still in preparation: provisional contents listed below: page also has links to some useful resources for statistical concepts]
Hypothesis testing
4.2 t-test and one way anova
4.3 Testing differences between three or more means
4.3 Chi-square (has one tutorial)
4.4 Regression and correlation
4.5 Association, structure and cause
SPSS files and documentation used for tutorials and exercises
This a collection of raw data, SPSS syntax and SPSS saved files for you to download as and when needed and store on your own computer or on a CD or memory stick. Facsimile questionnaires are not included here, but extracts and/or links are provided in tutorials as and when necessary.
You can either download and save them to a USB stick or download and open them immediately in SPSS. Parts of some of them still need tidying up (eg measurement level, labelling) but exercises will deal with this. You are welcome to download and peruse them at your leisure to get a feel for what SPSS saved files look like inside. Other surveys will be added directly to this site or via links to other sites.
Statistical concepts and methods
As well as statistics notes specially written for the original course, and aimed at anxious and fearful, but keen-to-learn students, many with no previous experience of statistics or computing, there are links to on-line resources suitable for beginners.