1. SOC 305, Southeastern Louisiana University Prof. Robert Martin

3. Each data set has two tabs at bottom: “Data View and “Variable View.” Each view gives you a different spreadsheet.

4. Each column (up and down) is filled with each case’s value on the variable at the top of the column heading (like “state,” “inmexp”, “expend,” etc.). Case = unit.

5. Variable View = Information about each variable in your dataset.

6. “Name” = Variable name (short)

7. “Type” describes how a variable is coded. Numeric = Numbers, String = Letters

8. Note that some nominal variables (like “region”) are “Numeric.” SPSS can use numeric codes to represent category names (see the “Values” column).

9. “Decimals” = Number of decimal places given for each value. This can be increased or decreased.

10. “Label” = What does the variable measure?

11. “Values” = Click at bottom-right of cell to see the “key” to a variable (which codes go with which categories). - On “region,” a code of 1 = South.

12. “Missing” = Shows the code that means a value is missing for the variable. (A code of 999 on “deathsen” means we don’t have data on # of prisoners on death sentence for a given state.)

13. To sort cases (in the Data View): - Right-click on top of the variable you want to sort from. Click on “Sort Ascending” to sort from low to high. Click on “Sort Descending” to sort from high to low.

14. Most statistical analysis we want to run is under “Analyze” heading. -To get a list of all values on a variable (called a frequency distribution or frequency table), click Analyze -> Descriptive Statistics -> Frequencies.

15. - Double-click on the variable you want, which will move it to the “action window” on the right. - Click OK to get the frequency table.

16. - Double-click on the variable you want, which will move it to the “action window” on the right. - Click OK to get the frequency table.

17. - SPSS opens “Output” window with whatever analysis you asked for. Here, you can see how many states had which values on the “poverty” variable.

18. “Recode” variables to put values in new categories. - Transform -> “Recode into Different Variables…”

19. This opens the “Recode” window, which looks like a lot of windows in SPSS.

20. List of Variables in the data set. You need to pick one of these to recode. - To see variable names (not labels), right-click on the list and choose “Display Variable Names.”

21. Double-click a variable to bring it to “action” window. In “Output Variable” column on right, give the new variable a Name and a Label. (Click “Change” when finished; that erases the ? in the action window). Click “Old and New Values” to tell SPSS what the categories on the new variable will be.

22. Old Value: Values on original variable that you will recode. Here, I clicked “Range” and entered a range of values that will be recoded. New Value: Values on new variable. When you click “Add” button, every state with a value on “poverty” between 0 and 10 will be coded as “1” on the new variable. Make sure to give a new code to ALL the values on the old variable! At the end, click “System-missing” on both sides and hit “Add.” (This deals with missing data.) Then click “Continue.”

23. Click “OK” when you’re finished and you’ll have a new recoded variable.