SPSS for Absolute Beginners
Learn to enter, organize, summarize, and visualize data in IBM SPSS Statistics — from your first variable to your first chart. No prior statistics or software experience required.
| Name | Type | Label | Values | Measure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | Numeric | Age of respondent | — | Scale |
| Sex | Numeric | Respondent's sex | 1=Male, 2=Female | Nominal |
| Score | Numeric | Examination score | — | Scale |
| Class | String | Class group | — | Nominal |
By the end of this course
Three modules take you from an empty spreadsheet to a finished, interpreted chart — the same workflow used in business, healthcare, education, psychology, government, and finance research.
Tell variables, cases, and raw data apart, and set up SPSS's Variable View and Data View correctly.
Name variables, assign types, labels, and value labels, and pick the right level of measurement.
Enter, edit, and save data accurately, and avoid the coding mistakes that ruin a dataset.
Calculate and interpret mean, median, mode, range, variance, and standard deviation.
Run Descriptives and Frequencies in SPSS and read the Output Viewer with confidence.
Build bar, pie, line, histogram, scatter, and box plot charts with Chart Builder.
Match the right chart to the right data type — and avoid the most common charting mistakes.
Write a short, correctly worded results summary from SPSS output.
3 modules
Each module builds on the last — data has to be entered correctly before it can be summarized, and summarized before it can be charted.
01
Entering and Organizing Data in SPSS
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Entering and Organizing Data in SPSS
- What is data, and what counts as a variable and a case
- Touring the SPSS workspace: Variable View vs. Data View
- Naming variables correctly (and common naming mistakes)
- Variable types: numeric, string, and date
- Variable labels vs. value labels
- Levels of measurement: nominal, ordinal, and scale
- Switching to Data View and entering your first dataset
- Editing data and inserting new variables or cases
- Saving a file correctly as a .sav file
- Good data entry practices and common beginner mistakes
- Practical exercise: build a 10-student dataset from scratch
02
Calculating Descriptive Statistics in SPSS
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Calculating Descriptive Statistics in SPSS
- What descriptive statistics are and why they matter
- Measures of central tendency: mean, median, mode
- Measures of dispersion: range, variance, standard deviation, min/max
- Reading a frequency distribution
- Running Analyze → Descriptive Statistics → Descriptives
- Running Analyze → Descriptive Statistics → Frequencies
- Interpreting SPSS output tables
- Writing up results in plain language (e.g. "mean age was 34.6, SD = 8.2")
- Practical exercise: summarize 10 students' Mathematics scores
03
Creating Charts and Graphs in SPSS
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Creating Charts and Graphs in SPSS
- Why and when to chart data instead of tabling it
- Six chart types and what each is best used for
- Building charts with Chart Builder, step by step
- Bar charts for comparing categories
- Pie charts for showing proportions
- Histograms for continuous distributions
- Scatter plots for relationships between two variables
- Editing charts: titles, axis labels, colors, fonts
- Common charting mistakes to avoid
- Practical exercise: build and interpret 5 charts from real scenarios