Navigating SPSS Windows

SPSS Data in Data View

One of the primary ways of looking at data file is in Data View, so that you can see each row as a source of data and each column as a variable (e.g., characteristic or property of each data source).

We click on the Data View tab so that we can enter and edit the data points themselves. Typically, we enter the data (and certainly edit the data) after establishing the names and other properties of the variables in a data set explained below under Variable View. More detail will be provided in the Data Entry tutorial.

SPSS Data in Variable View

We click on the Variable View tab to define or change the names and other properties of each variable in the data set:

In this view, each variable is represented as a row, and various properties of the variable are represented as columns, allowing us to change the properties of existing variables or establish properties for new variables.

The variable properties and their functions are:

Name -- the unique variable name
Type -- the kind of data to be recorded (e.g., strings of characters, numeric values, or special numbers like dates)
Width -- the number of characters used to display the data
Decimals -- the number of decimal places displayed
Label -- a text entry to describe the data provided by the variable, which can be much longer than the variable name and may include spaces. With questionnaires, for example, the label is usually the text of the question.
Values -- if specific numeric values have a non-intuitive meaning, these values can be labeled (e.g., 1 = male and 2 = female)
Columns -- determines how wide the variable column should be in Data View mode
Align -- determines whether the data should be left-justified, right-justified, or centered
Measure -- describes the level of measurement (e.g., nominal, ordinal, or scale)

The procedures for creating and changing these properties is provided in the next tutorial, Data Entry.

Lab Activities

Open the data set by clicking here.
Click on the Variable View tab -- notice the variable definitions and properties
Click on the Data View tab -- notice the values of the variables for each case.

Navigating SPSS Output

The SPSS output window is split into two frames. There is a navigation frame on the left and the output itself in a frame on the right.

When the output gets quite long, instead of scrolling (for ever) in the right frame, you can click on the item in the left you would like to view. SPSS will bring that item to the visible portion of the right frame.

You can also click on an output item, drag it into another program window (e.g., a WORD document window), and drop the item in the new window to copy & paste it. Alternatively, you can select the item to be copied in SPSS and copy the text:

Or, you can select the item to be copied in SPSS and copy the entire object as formatted:

Note the difference below: The first output was copied normally, but the second output was copied as an object. Both were pasted into WORD PAD.

Lab Activities

You will need to complete a later tutorial on Basic Data Analysis to learn how to generate output, which you obviously need before you can learn how to manipulate that output.

Generate some output as per the tutorial mentioned above.
Open WORD or WORD PAD from the START menu
Click on an output item in the right frame
Drag the item from the SPSS output window to the WORD window and drop it into that window
Click on an output item in the SPSS output right-frame, then copy the selection, and then paste in the WORD document.
Repeat the above, but select the Copy Object item from the Edit menu.

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