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What is SPSS?
[Page last updated 4 Nov 2011]
What is SPSS and what does it do?
SPSS consists of an integrated series of computer programs which enable the user to read data from questionnaire surveys and other sources (e.g. medical and administrative records),to manipulate them in various ways and to produce a wide range of statistical analyses and reports, together with documentation.
The original version of SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) was written in the late 1960's by two post-graduate political science students who could get no joy from
statisticians or computer programmers when it came to processing, manipulating
and analysing data from questionnaire surveys. They brought in a programmer to help
them produce something to help users write commands which looked more or less plausible social science language in English, and for the first time gave social scientists control over their own such research. Needless to say, sociologists and political scientists loved it: statisticians and computer programmers hated it.
SPSS was first released in the USA in 1968 and arrived in the UK in 1970 (on a tape in Tony Coxon's ruck-sack) and was installed by David Muxworthy and Marjorie Barritt at Edinburgh University (the only one with an IBM computer) . It was an integrated set of programs for the management and statistical analysis of social science data, developed especially for the processing and analysis of data from questionnaire surveys. Because of its straightforward English-like command language and impressive user manual, it spread quickly throughout the social (survey) research community. It was so successful that SPSS Inc was set up to protect the charitable status of the University of Chicago. It rapidly became the world standard for social science computing. Later on SPSS Inc turned to business rather than social research applications and developed a graphic user interface (GUI) based on drop-down menus rather than syntax.
For a fairly detailed account of the company's business history to 2003 click here.
SPSS Inc. was acquired by IBM in October, 2009. As a result, the organisation’s name changed immediately to “SPSS, an IBM company" The package name changed from SPSS to PASW (Predictive Analytic SoftWare) and from release 18 onwards as IBM SPSS Statistics (in which SPSS now stands for Statistical Product and Service Solutions) but most users still call it SPSS.
See: SPSS chairman says he owns trademark - Chicago Tribune
Trademark suit complicated IBM's takeover of SPSS - Chicago Tribune
IBM's $1.2 billion bid for SPSS Inc ... - Collections - Chicago Tribune
There's a brief account of the history and development of SPSS in Appendix 1 of Old Dog, Old Tricks my 2006 presentation to ASSESS (SPSS users in Europe) and of more recent developments in the Wikipedia article on SPSS.
What is SPSS and what does it do?
SPSS consists of an integrated series of computer programs which enable the user to read data from questionnaire surveys and other sources (e.g. medical and administrative records),to manipulate them in various ways and to produce a wide range of statistical analyses and reports, together with documentation.
The original version of SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) was written in the late 1960's by two post-graduate political science students who could get no joy from
statisticians or computer programmers when it came to processing, manipulating
and analysing data from questionnaire surveys. They brought in a programmer to help
them produce something to help users write commands which looked more or less plausible social science language in English, and for the first time gave social scientists control over their own such research. Needless to say, sociologists and political scientists loved it: statisticians and computer programmers hated it.
SPSS was first released in the USA in 1968 and arrived in the UK in 1970 (on a tape in Tony Coxon's ruck-sack) and was installed by David Muxworthy and Marjorie Barritt at Edinburgh University (the only one with an IBM computer) . It was an integrated set of programs for the management and statistical analysis of social science data, developed especially for the processing and analysis of data from questionnaire surveys. Because of its straightforward English-like command language and impressive user manual, it spread quickly throughout the social (survey) research community. It was so successful that SPSS Inc was set up to protect the charitable status of the University of Chicago. It rapidly became the world standard for social science computing. Later on SPSS Inc turned to business rather than social research applications and developed a graphic user interface (GUI) based on drop-down menus rather than syntax.
For a fairly detailed account of the company's business history to 2003 click here.
SPSS Inc. was acquired by IBM in October, 2009. As a result, the organisation’s name changed immediately to “SPSS, an IBM company" The package name changed from SPSS to PASW (Predictive Analytic SoftWare) and from release 18 onwards as IBM SPSS Statistics (in which SPSS now stands for Statistical Product and Service Solutions) but most users still call it SPSS.
See: SPSS chairman says he owns trademark - Chicago Tribune
Trademark suit complicated IBM's takeover of SPSS - Chicago Tribune
IBM's $1.2 billion bid for SPSS Inc ... - Collections - Chicago Tribune
There's a brief account of the history and development of SPSS in Appendix 1 of Old Dog, Old Tricks my 2006 presentation to ASSESS (SPSS users in Europe) and of more recent developments in the Wikipedia article on SPSS.
Where next?
How I discovered SPSS (by being dropped in at the deep end)
Survey Analysis Workshop explains the background to the course
Note on SPSS Tutorials explains the nature of the SPSS tutorials
Currently available SPSS materials lists pages containing tutorials and support materials. Each of the pages has hyperlinks to all relevant course materials. There is a separate Summary Guide to SPSS tutorials.
There is a full Detailed guide to SPSS tutorials containing all the contents of all the main menus. There are more than 400 pages (74 mb) of downloadable tutorials and supporting materials.
Survey Analysis Workshop explains the background to the course
Note on SPSS Tutorials explains the nature of the SPSS tutorials
Currently available SPSS materials lists pages containing tutorials and support materials. Each of the pages has hyperlinks to all relevant course materials. There is a separate Summary Guide to SPSS tutorials.
There is a full Detailed guide to SPSS tutorials containing all the contents of all the main menus. There are more than 400 pages (74 mb) of downloadable tutorials and supporting materials.
