Using SPSS to Understand Research and Data Analysis.

6.2 Running the Frequencies Procedure

Recall our Chapter 4 discussion of social and task skills in leadership. It would be of interest to describe EZ employees on these dimensions. Also recall that you obtained scores on these skills before and after employees attended a leadership training workshop. So it would also be of interest to compare the distribution of employees' scores on these skills before and after the workshop to begin to assess its effectiveness. For this example we will generate descriptive statistics for the before-after scores on task skills, task1 and task2. To begin, select Analyze, Descriptive Statistics, Frequencies... from the Data Editor menu.

In the left pane of the Frequencies dialog window (Figure 6.1), scroll down and highlight task1 and task2. Click the right-arrow in the middle to move these to the Variable(s): pane. Make sure the Display frequency tables box is checked, then click the Statistics... button.

In the Frequencies: Statistics window (Figure 6.2), click the Mean, Median and Mode for measures of Central Tendency and Standard Deviation for measures of Dispersion (variability), then click the Continue button.

This will return you to the Frequencies window. To generate frequency graphs of these variables, click the Charts... button at the bottom (Figure 6.3).

In the Frequencies: Charts window (Figure 6.4), select Histograms, With normal curve (to superimpose a normal curve over the histogram), then click the Continue button.

This will return you again to the Frequencies dialog window. Now simply click the OK button in the upper-right corner of that window.

To view a video of this procedure, click Play below.