Using SPSS to Understand Research and Data Analysis.

• 2.3b Data Editor Rules

Let's create this file in the Data Editor window on your computer. As can be seen in Figure 2.6, SPSS expects you to list variables in the columns, and individual scores from each participant in the rows of this spreadsheet. This is the same way that the data has been organized in Table 2.1, so this shouldn’t be difficult to do.

However, it’s a good idea to name the variables in SPSS before entering the individual scores. More will be said about this in a later chapter, but for now, just note that the Data View tab is active at the bottom of this SPSS Data Editor window. To name the variables, we need to activate the Variable View tab. To do this, simply click on that tab. Figure 2.7 Shows the Data Editor window with the Variable View tab active.

It is important to note that in this view, the variables are listed in the rows (as opposed to being shown in the columns when the Data View tab is active). In the Variable View, instead of listing the variables in columns, characteristics of the variables are indicated in these columns.

Again, we will return to a more complete discussion of this view later, but for now, our main interest is in the column titled Name. This is where we will type the names of our three variables by clicking on the appropriate cell in the first column of each row.

Figure 2.8 shows the variable names, ID, Sex and Courses, typed in the name column of the first three rows.

SPSS has rules for these variable names (e.g., there can be no spaces, the variable name must begin with a letter, and the maximum length is 8 characters). Upper or lower case may be used – SPSS doesn’t care which you use, so we have used lower case.

Note that once a name has been typed in, SPSS default options appear in the next three columns. Don’t worry about these for now. The most important one to note is that all three variables are numeric (as opposed to letters), which is correct.

Type these three variable names in your Data Editor window now. When you have finished, click the Data View tab at the bottom of the window. When you do this, you will see that the variable names you just typed in now appear as headings in the first three columns of the Data Editor window (Figure 2.9).

To view a video of this explanation, click Play below: