Using SPSS to Understand Research and Data Analysis.

2.6 Summary of the three SPSS windows

This chapter has introduced the three major components of SPSS:

• Data Editor - a spreadsheet used to create data files and run analyses using menus
• Syntax Editor - a text editor used to create files and run analyses using syntax code
• Output Viewer - a window displaying the results of analyses performed by SPSS

As mentioned, we will use the Data Editor window in the remaining chapters of this book, and will refer only occasionally to the Syntax Editor window. Regardless of whether we are working with the Syntax Editor or the Data Editor, the results of our procedures will always be displayed in the Output Viewer window. In both cases, the results will be displayed in the Viewer window.

To summarize what we have covered in this chapter, you will progress through the following steps as you create and execute an SPSS program:

• Access SPSS for Windows from your PC hard drive or from your network (LAN)
• Create a data file in the SPSS Data Editor or the SPSS Syntax Editor
• Save the data file using the appropriate file extension (.SAV or .SPS)
• Specify an analysis to be run on the data file (e.g., Frequencies)
• View the results of an analysis in the SPSS Viewer Window
• Save the output file in this Viewer Window using the .SPO file extension.

Once again, although this may seem confusing at first, we assure you that all of this will soon become second nature to you once you have conducted a few analyses using SPSS! We conclude the present chapter by explaining some of the differences between working with files in the Data Editor versus the Syntax Editor.