Excel and SPSS

MS-Excel and SPSS

When choosing a tool for data analysis there are many factors to consider:

•Does it run natively on your computer?

•Does the software provide all the methods you need?

•Does its extensibility use its own unique language, or an external one (e.g.

Python, R) that is commonly accessible from many packages?

•Does it provide output in the form you prefer (e.g. cut & paste into a word

processor vs. LaTeX integration)?

•Do your colleagues use it so you can easily share data and programs?

•Can you afford it?

​Download the demo files from here:

​https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/19wC9dzuK_wUaFA5QdWNx2Nb5Kud83PaX?usp=sharing

Microsoft Excel

• Excel is a powerful spreadsheet app that allows users to organize

data, complete calculations, make decisions, graph data, develop
reports, etc.

• The four major parts of Excel are as follows:

• Workbooks and worksheets: A workbook is like a notebook. Inside the
workbook are sheets, each of a collection of worksheets. Worksheets
allow users to enter, calculate, manipulate, and analyse data such as
numbers and text. The terms worksheet and spreadsheet are
interchangeable.
• Charts: Excel can draw a variety of charts such as column charts and pie
charts.
• Tables: Tables organize and store data within worksheets. For example,
once a user enters data into a worksheet, an Excel table can sort the data,
search for specific data, and select data that satisfies defined criteria.
• Web support: Web support allows users to save Excel worksheets or
parts of a worksheet in a format that a user can view and manipulate the
worksheet using a browser.

IBM SPSS Statistics

• SPSS Statistics is a software package used for interactive, or

batched, statistical analysis. It was acquired by IBM in 2009. The
current versions (2015) are named IBM SPSS Statistics.

• The software name originally stood for Statistical Package for the

Social Sciences (SPSS)

• 30 day free trial. Base Subscription is Rs.6,370.16 per user per

month.

• Statistics included in the base software:

• Descriptive statistics: Cross tabulation, Frequencies, Descriptives.
• Bivariate statistics: Means, t-test, ANOVA, Correlation (bivariate,

partial, distances), Nonparametric tests

• Prediction for numerical outcomes: Linear regression
• Prediction for identifying groups: Factor analysis, cluster analysis

(two-step, K-means, hierarchical), Discriminant

• Geo spatial analysis, simulation
• R extension (GUI), Python

Saving Data and Output

SPSS data can be saved as a variety of file formats, including
•MS Excel;
•plain text (.txt or .csv);
•Stata;
•SAS.

� The options for output are even more elaborate: charts are often copy-pasted as

images in .png format.

� For tables, rich text format is often used because it retains the tables’ layout,

fonts and borders.
Besides copy-pasting individual output items, all output items can be exported
in one go to .pdf, HTML, MS Word and many other file formats.

Many SPSS users use a word processor such as MS Word, OpenOffice or GoogleDocs for
reporting.

A real weakness of SPSS is that its charts tend to be ugly and often have a
clumsy layout. A great way to overcome this problem is developing and
applying SPSS chart templates. Doing so, however, requires a fair amount
of effort and expertise

SPSS syntax is a language containing instructions for analyzing and
editing data and other SPSS commands.

Why even use SPSS syntax?
The single best SPSS practice is doing everything from syntax. Some reasons for this
are:
• you'll always know exactly which steps you took in which order so you

can prove that your results are correct;

• if you made some mistake -don't we all sometimes?- you can correct it and rerun

everything you did in just seconds;

• you'll work way faster than from the menu and you never have to do things twice;
• some of the best SPSS tricks and time savers are available as syntax only.

Sorting Variables

In the Variable View window SPSS requires you to input the measurement
scale properties of your variable.

The measurement characteristics recognized by SPSS are as follows:

• Scale : to represent a numeric variable that can take discrete or

continuous values along a range (e.g., age, weight, income)

• Ordinal : Categories that can be ranked(e.g., level of education,

satisfaction scales)

• Nominal: Categories that cannot be ranked(e.g., Gender – Male and

Female, Smoking or nonsmoking)

SCALE

Multiple Choice

Classify the variable measurement type:

Temperature

• Nominal

• Ordinal

• Scale

Multiple Choice

Classify the variable measurement type:

Marital Status

• Nominal

• Ordinal

• Scale

Multiple Choice

Classify the variable measurement type:

Student’s Rank

• Nominal

• Ordinal

• Scale

Multiple Choice

Classify the variable measurement type:

Height

• Nominal

• Ordinal

• Scale

Multiple Choice

Classify the variable measurement type:

Stages of cancer

• Nominal

• Ordinal

• Scale

Multiple Choice

Classify the variable measurement type:

Gold, silver or bronze medals

• Nominal

• Ordinal

• Scale

Multiple Choice

Classify the variable measurement type:

Country of birth

• Nominal

• Ordinal

• Scale

Multiple Choice

Classify the variable measurement type:

Income

• Nominal

• Ordinal

• Scale

Multiple Choice

Classify the variable measurement type:

Richter scale

• Nominal

• Ordinal

• Scale

Multiple Choice

Classify the variable measurement type:

Shoot length

• Nominal

• Ordinal

• Scale