Using SPSS to Understand Research and Data Analysis.

2.4 Creating files in the Syntax Editor Window

An alternate way to create data files is to use the SPSS Syntax Editor Window. The Syntax Editor works much like a word processor, such as Windows Notepad or a scaled-down version of Microsoft Word. That is, you can just type the data into this window as you would in creating any text file.

• 2.4a Accessing the Syntax Editor

Select File, New, Syntax from the drop-down menu at the top of the Data Editor window (Figure 2.13).

A new window will open (Figure 2.14).

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

Note that n addition to typing text/data directly into the Syntax Editor window, you can "cut-and-paste" data into this editor. That is, just as you can cut-and-paste text from one Word file into another Word file, you can also cut-and-paste data into the Syntax Editor. Thus, data files that were created in a text editor such as Windows Notepad (called ASCI II files) can be cut-and-pasted into this Syntax Editor. However, as mentioned, we will create this Syntax Editor file from scratch by typing the text and data directly into this editor. Let’s use the same example we just used to create this same data file in the Syntax Editor.