Journeys in Survey Research

  • Home page
  • Blog
  • Dedication
  • My personal pantheon (of the great and the good in survey research)
    • Mark Abrams >
      • Abrams publications
      • An interview with Mark Abrams (transcripts)
      • An interview with Mark Abrams (audio files)
      • Mark Abrams Prize
    • Angus Campbell >
      • SRU garden reception for Angus Campbell
    • Cathie Marsh
    • Tony Coxon
    • Roger Jowell
    • James A Davis
    • Norman Nie
  • Acknowledgements
    • Unsung heroes in support services
  • About the author
    • John F Hall: Career profile
    • John F Hall: Extra-curricular professional and political activities
  • About this site
    • What people have said about this site
    • Latest additions and modifications
    • How to use this site
  • Recent and planned activities
  • Textbooks
    • Textbooks for SPSS >
      • Highly recommended SPSS textbooks >
        • McInnes (2017) >
          • MacInnes, Chapter 4:​ Getting Started with SPSS
          • MacInnes, Chapter 5 Dealing with Data Documentation
          • MacInness 2017 (Web links)
        • Marsh and Elliott (2008)
        • Sweet and Grace-Martin 2010
        • Babbie, Halley, Wagner and Zaino 2013
        • Julie Pallant, SPSS Survival Manual
        • Andy Field
        • Boslaugh 2005
        • McCormick & Salcedo (2015)
        • McCormick & Salcedo (2017)
      • SPSS textbooks worth a look >
        • Hy (1977)
      • On-line SPSS textbooks
      • Textbooks requested or awaiting review
    • Textbooks: Statistics for Social Research >
      • de Vries 2018
      • Bergin (2018)
    • Textbooks: Survey Methods >
      • Crouch & Housden (2003)
      • Andres (2012)
      • Blair, Czala and Blair (2014)
      • de Vaus (2014)
      • Hoinville, Jowell et al (1977)
      • Marsden & Wright [Eds] (2010) >
        • Contributors to Handbook of Survey Research
      • Marsh (1982)
      • Moser & Kalton (1971)
      • Oppenheim (1992)
      • Pallant 2016
    • Textbooks: Data curation and sharing >
      • Corti et el (2014)
  • 1: Survey Analysis Workshop (SPSS)
    • What is SPSS?
    • SPSS Without Tears >
      • My first time: in at the SPSS deep end (1972)
    • Introduction to Survey Analysis Workshop (SPSS) >
      • IBM® SPSS® Statistics (Overview)
      • Note on SPSS tutorials on this site
      • Background to current project >
        • Author's note
      • SPSS versions used
      • Stata and SPSS
    • Summary guide to SPSS tutorials >
      • Block 1: From questionnaire to SPSS saved file
      • 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 Two variables (CROSSTABS)
        • 3.2 Three (or more) variables
        • 3.3 Multiple response (MULT RESPONSE)
        • 3.4 Conditional data transformations (IF and DO IF)
        • 3.5 Derived variables (COUNT and COMPUTE) >
          • 3.5.1 Introduction to COUNT and COMPUTE
          • 3.5.2 Teenage Attitudes (Tutorials)
      • Block 4: Hypothesis testing
      • SPSS files and documentation used for tutorials and exercises >
        • Data sets used in Survey Analysis Workshop >
          • British Social Attitudes
          • Pre-course questionnaire on interests and experience
          • Quality of Life in Britain
    • Useful links for SPSS >
      • On-line SPSS Intros and tutorials
      • SPSS courses
  • 1a: Statistical concepts and methods
  • 1b: Teaching with Survey Data
    • SN 28: Relative Deprivation and Social Justice 1962-63
  • 1c: Developing research projects using survey data
  • 1d: Workshop and presentations for ASSESS (SPSS users in Europe)
    • Old Dog, Old Tricks: Using SPSS syntax to beat the mouse-trap
    • The Beginners' Guide to Survey Analysis Using SPSS
    • Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind: working with alien SPSS files
    • ASSESS 2014 Links to Contents
  • 2: Survey Research Practice
    • SR 502: Survey Research Practice (1976 - 1992)
    • Courses in Survey Methods >
      • (United Kingdom) Degrees, diplomas and certificates
      • (USA & Canada) Degrees, diplomas and certificates in survey research
      • Summer schools for survey methods
      • Short courses for survey research
    • Opinion polls >
      • Election poll débâcles
    • Web-based resources for survey research >
      • Survey Resources Network
      • On-line surveys
      • Question Banks
      • Survey methods guides and tutorials
      • Clips, tips and blogs
    • Useful links for Survey Research
  • 2a: Survey Research Methodology, Practice and Training
    • The place of survey research in the social sciences
    • Survey Research and Social Action
    • Academic centres specialising in survey research >
      • United Kingdom
      • USA and Canada
      • Europe
    • Professional and Voluntary Associations
    • Survey research organisations
    • Journals for survey research
    • Articles on survey research
  • 2b: Major survey series
    • United Kingdom (Major survey series: academic and other) >
      • British Social Attitudes >
        • British Social Attitudes: ​Exploring the SPSS files >
          • British Social Attitudes 1983 onwards: Cumulative SPSS file
          • British Social Attitudes: Making files from different years compatible
    • United Kingdom (Major survey series: government) >
      • ONS National Well-being >
        • ONS files
    • Europe (Major survey series)
    • USA (Major survey series)
  • 3: Subjective Social Indicators (Quality of Life)
    • Quality of Life: Measurement and methodology
    • Measures of psychological well-being
    • Values and Quality of Life
    • SSRC Survey Unit Quality of Life in Britain surveys 1971-1975 >
      • Abstracts, data and documentation
      • Publications based on the SSRC Quality of Life in Britain surveys >
        • Bibliography for Quality of Life in Britain and related surveys
        • Quality of Life of the Elderly in Residential Care
      • Surveys in schools >
        • "Trinians" survey
        • Playground to Politics
  • 4: Survey Unit, Social Science Research Council (UK)
    • Surveys by SSRC Survey Unit
    • Publications: SSRC Survey Unit
    • Courses, Conferences and Seminars
  • 5: Survey Research Unit, Polytechnic of North London
    • Survey Research Unit >
      • Training courses in survey methods
      • The place of SRU within PNL
    • Director's Working Group on the Survey Research Unit
  • Village life in Normandy
    • Notre Dame de Cenilly >
      • War and Peace in N D de Cenilly >
        • Armistice Day
        • German Occupation (1940 - 1944)
        • D-Day (6th June 1944) >
          • D-Day ceremony 9 June 2013
          • D-Day 70th Anniversary 2014
          • Lancaster bomber crew (Memorial Ceremony 8 June 2011)
          • Lancaster bomber crew (Memorial Ceremony 8 June 2014)
          • Lancaster bomber crew (Memorial Ceremony 7 June 2015)
          • Lancaster bomber crew ​(Memorial ceremony 5 June 2016)
        • Liberation July 1944 >
          • Field hospital in N D de Cenilly
          • Liberation celebrations (July 2006)
          • Visit of US 2nd Armored Division veterans (2 Sep 2009)
          • Liberation celebrations 2014
          • Unveiling of new monument (13 June 2015)
          • Re-enactment camp (Gavray, 11 July 2015)
      • Fête St Clair 2007
      • Fête St Clair 2010
      • Fête St Clair 2012 National pedal-car championships
      • La Noslière de Bas
    • Midsummer music
    • Paris trip (post Brexit)
  • Contact

My first time: in at the SPSS deep end (1972)


[Page last updated 6 December 2014]

The first time I ever used SPSS (not!) was in 1972, during a desperate attempt to obtain badly delayed results from a live "Life in Oxford" survey designed and conducted from scratch (under my supervision) by students on the SSRC Survey Methods Summer School at St Edmund Hall, Oxford.  Attempting such a survey (including sampling, questionnaire design, printing and collation, coding and card-punching, data editing and cleaning, analysis with SPSS) was perhaps over-ambitious: we dropped it from future summer schools.  By the final evening of the course we had barely managed to get preliminary frequency counts, but little else.
  
I wanted to have much more analysis to give students in return for all their efforts, but Clive Payne (who up to then had organised all the computing) had to leave early for a "pressing social engagement" (I think it was it was his wedding anniversary or his wife's birthday).  He handed me the only copy of the manual (first time I'd ever seen it!) and I was left on my own in the Oxford University Computer Centre with only a single operator for company.  Despite heroic efforts from both us, we obtained nothing but indecipherable error messages and I was eventually thrown out at midnight as the operator wanted to go home. 
Picture
1975 cartoon by Colin Brown, then a trainee researcher in the SSRC Survey Unit, who went on to become a researcher with the Consumer Association, then to the Policy Studies Institute and ended up as Policy Director, Office of Fair Trading. Author of the phrase "canteen culture" when researching the police.
On top of that I missed my dinner and most of the end-of-course party!  
These tutorials should help you to avoid all that. 

Perhaps I should rename the course SPSS Without Tears!

Now go to page IBM SPSS Statistics (Overview)  (brief introduction, links to SPSS materials and resources) or go to  Introduction to Survey Analysis Workshop (SPSS) and enjoy the course.


Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home page
  • Blog
  • Dedication
  • My personal pantheon (of the great and the good in survey research)
    • Mark Abrams >
      • Abrams publications
      • An interview with Mark Abrams (transcripts)
      • An interview with Mark Abrams (audio files)
      • Mark Abrams Prize
    • Angus Campbell >
      • SRU garden reception for Angus Campbell
    • Cathie Marsh
    • Tony Coxon
    • Roger Jowell
    • James A Davis
    • Norman Nie
  • Acknowledgements
    • Unsung heroes in support services
  • About the author
    • John F Hall: Career profile
    • John F Hall: Extra-curricular professional and political activities
  • About this site
    • What people have said about this site
    • Latest additions and modifications
    • How to use this site
  • Recent and planned activities
  • Textbooks
    • Textbooks for SPSS >
      • Highly recommended SPSS textbooks >
        • McInnes (2017) >
          • MacInnes, Chapter 4:​ Getting Started with SPSS
          • MacInnes, Chapter 5 Dealing with Data Documentation
          • MacInness 2017 (Web links)
        • Marsh and Elliott (2008)
        • Sweet and Grace-Martin 2010
        • Babbie, Halley, Wagner and Zaino 2013
        • Julie Pallant, SPSS Survival Manual
        • Andy Field
        • Boslaugh 2005
        • McCormick & Salcedo (2015)
        • McCormick & Salcedo (2017)
      • SPSS textbooks worth a look >
        • Hy (1977)
      • On-line SPSS textbooks
      • Textbooks requested or awaiting review
    • Textbooks: Statistics for Social Research >
      • de Vries 2018
      • Bergin (2018)
    • Textbooks: Survey Methods >
      • Crouch & Housden (2003)
      • Andres (2012)
      • Blair, Czala and Blair (2014)
      • de Vaus (2014)
      • Hoinville, Jowell et al (1977)
      • Marsden & Wright [Eds] (2010) >
        • Contributors to Handbook of Survey Research
      • Marsh (1982)
      • Moser & Kalton (1971)
      • Oppenheim (1992)
      • Pallant 2016
    • Textbooks: Data curation and sharing >
      • Corti et el (2014)
  • 1: Survey Analysis Workshop (SPSS)
    • What is SPSS?
    • SPSS Without Tears >
      • My first time: in at the SPSS deep end (1972)
    • Introduction to Survey Analysis Workshop (SPSS) >
      • IBM® SPSS® Statistics (Overview)
      • Note on SPSS tutorials on this site
      • Background to current project >
        • Author's note
      • SPSS versions used
      • Stata and SPSS
    • Summary guide to SPSS tutorials >
      • Block 1: From questionnaire to SPSS saved file
      • 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 Two variables (CROSSTABS)
        • 3.2 Three (or more) variables
        • 3.3 Multiple response (MULT RESPONSE)
        • 3.4 Conditional data transformations (IF and DO IF)
        • 3.5 Derived variables (COUNT and COMPUTE) >
          • 3.5.1 Introduction to COUNT and COMPUTE
          • 3.5.2 Teenage Attitudes (Tutorials)
      • Block 4: Hypothesis testing
      • SPSS files and documentation used for tutorials and exercises >
        • Data sets used in Survey Analysis Workshop >
          • British Social Attitudes
          • Pre-course questionnaire on interests and experience
          • Quality of Life in Britain
    • Useful links for SPSS >
      • On-line SPSS Intros and tutorials
      • SPSS courses
  • 1a: Statistical concepts and methods
  • 1b: Teaching with Survey Data
    • SN 28: Relative Deprivation and Social Justice 1962-63
  • 1c: Developing research projects using survey data
  • 1d: Workshop and presentations for ASSESS (SPSS users in Europe)
    • Old Dog, Old Tricks: Using SPSS syntax to beat the mouse-trap
    • The Beginners' Guide to Survey Analysis Using SPSS
    • Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind: working with alien SPSS files
    • ASSESS 2014 Links to Contents
  • 2: Survey Research Practice
    • SR 502: Survey Research Practice (1976 - 1992)
    • Courses in Survey Methods >
      • (United Kingdom) Degrees, diplomas and certificates
      • (USA & Canada) Degrees, diplomas and certificates in survey research
      • Summer schools for survey methods
      • Short courses for survey research
    • Opinion polls >
      • Election poll débâcles
    • Web-based resources for survey research >
      • Survey Resources Network
      • On-line surveys
      • Question Banks
      • Survey methods guides and tutorials
      • Clips, tips and blogs
    • Useful links for Survey Research
  • 2a: Survey Research Methodology, Practice and Training
    • The place of survey research in the social sciences
    • Survey Research and Social Action
    • Academic centres specialising in survey research >
      • United Kingdom
      • USA and Canada
      • Europe
    • Professional and Voluntary Associations
    • Survey research organisations
    • Journals for survey research
    • Articles on survey research
  • 2b: Major survey series
    • United Kingdom (Major survey series: academic and other) >
      • British Social Attitudes >
        • British Social Attitudes: ​Exploring the SPSS files >
          • British Social Attitudes 1983 onwards: Cumulative SPSS file
          • British Social Attitudes: Making files from different years compatible
    • United Kingdom (Major survey series: government) >
      • ONS National Well-being >
        • ONS files
    • Europe (Major survey series)
    • USA (Major survey series)
  • 3: Subjective Social Indicators (Quality of Life)
    • Quality of Life: Measurement and methodology
    • Measures of psychological well-being
    • Values and Quality of Life
    • SSRC Survey Unit Quality of Life in Britain surveys 1971-1975 >
      • Abstracts, data and documentation
      • Publications based on the SSRC Quality of Life in Britain surveys >
        • Bibliography for Quality of Life in Britain and related surveys
        • Quality of Life of the Elderly in Residential Care
      • Surveys in schools >
        • "Trinians" survey
        • Playground to Politics
  • 4: Survey Unit, Social Science Research Council (UK)
    • Surveys by SSRC Survey Unit
    • Publications: SSRC Survey Unit
    • Courses, Conferences and Seminars
  • 5: Survey Research Unit, Polytechnic of North London
    • Survey Research Unit >
      • Training courses in survey methods
      • The place of SRU within PNL
    • Director's Working Group on the Survey Research Unit
  • Village life in Normandy
    • Notre Dame de Cenilly >
      • War and Peace in N D de Cenilly >
        • Armistice Day
        • German Occupation (1940 - 1944)
        • D-Day (6th June 1944) >
          • D-Day ceremony 9 June 2013
          • D-Day 70th Anniversary 2014
          • Lancaster bomber crew (Memorial Ceremony 8 June 2011)
          • Lancaster bomber crew (Memorial Ceremony 8 June 2014)
          • Lancaster bomber crew (Memorial Ceremony 7 June 2015)
          • Lancaster bomber crew ​(Memorial ceremony 5 June 2016)
        • Liberation July 1944 >
          • Field hospital in N D de Cenilly
          • Liberation celebrations (July 2006)
          • Visit of US 2nd Armored Division veterans (2 Sep 2009)
          • Liberation celebrations 2014
          • Unveiling of new monument (13 June 2015)
          • Re-enactment camp (Gavray, 11 July 2015)
      • Fête St Clair 2007
      • Fête St Clair 2010
      • Fête St Clair 2012 National pedal-car championships
      • La Noslière de Bas
    • Midsummer music
    • Paris trip (post Brexit)
  • Contact