Using SPSS to Report NSSE Data: Transform Your Analyses and Save Time with SPSS Regional NSSE User’s Workshop October 2006 Rick Shoup, Research Analyst Center for Postsecondary Research, Indiana University Bloomington

Goals  Identify key components of the NSSE datafile  Introduce users to SPSS command syntax  Expose users to less commonly used SPSS functions  Highlight how SPSS can save time  Demonstrate practical application of SPSS to generate customized NSSE reports  Make NSSE data more accessible

NSSE Datafile  Core survey items  Administration fields  Institution-provided flags  Student-level benchmark indices and weights  Codebook and SPSS labels/values as references

Graphic User Interface (GUI)  “Point-and-click” environment  Front-end interface that automatically generates command syntax  Most GUI processes can be “pasted” to the syntax editor

Command Syntax  Powerful command language provided by SPSS  Runs “behinds the scenes”  Rendered in the third major SPSS window – the Syntax Editor

Scripts  SPSS scripts program tasks that cannot be done with command syntax, including:  Scripts use Sax Basic programming language  Scripts are created and modified in the fourth major SPSS window, the script window - Bold lines in a report - Print reports - Save output

Basic SPSS functions  Opening files  Creating variables  Specifying variable and value labels/formats  Frequencies  Crosstabulations

Advanced SPSS functions  Ctables  Scripts  OMS

We want to build a report that presents a side-by-side comparison of the Student-Faculty Interaction items for your institution’s Arts & Humanities, Biology, and Education Students. Walk-Through

 Develop a frequency report that shows only female (gender = 2) Arts & Humanities, Business, and Social Science students side-by-side.  Use only the Academic Challenge items:  (workhard, analyze, synthesz, evaluate, applying)  Also save a copy of the report in MS Excel but don’t include Business results.  Use a script to bold the “total” row in the SPSS output. Your Turn!

 IR offices are often under pressure to produce customized reports FAST  SPSS syntax can standardize most institutional research demands and alleviate drudgery  Use your imagination—syntax can be used in many different ways Summary

References  Levesque, R. (2003). SPSS Programming and Data Management. A Guide for SPSS and SAS Users. Chicago, IL: SPSS Inc.   Programming with SPSS Scripts – An SPSS Training Manual  SPSS User Manuals & Command Syntax Reference

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