InfoGuides: Software for Data & Digital Scholarship: SPSS

SPSS statistical software is now owned by IBM, a previous version was called PASW. SPSS has many different modules, and not all installations have all modules. So, be careful. SPSS is mostly point-and-click, which makes the learning curve low. It does have syntax, which is important to be aware of and keep for reproducibility of analysis. The syntax is laborious, however, and those who can program are likely to prefer using Stata or R.

Access to SPSS

Available in all ITS Labs and the DDSS Lab
On the Citrix Virtual Lab
Free Trial - 30 days
Grad Students can purchase for home use from Hearne Software (or others)
Employees can have it installed on university-owned computers

Consider also these Free, Open-Source alternatives:

PSPP - intentional look-alike, see PSPP Tutorials (YouTube Playlist)
Jamovi - See the Jamovi tab
Blue Sky Statistics - (Windows Only) R-based SPSS-like interface has tons of features

Start Here

Good Places to Start (Video)

Ordered Video Tutorials, Interface plus basic statistics and possibly more

SPSS Statistics Essential Training (2024) - ~2.5 hrs
from LinkedIn Learning / Barton Paulson,
- START: Navigating SPSS ~4 min and Saving and running syntax files ~4 min
- See also the partially different and older SPSS: An Introduction (YouTube) or at Datalab.cc
Introduction to Statistics with SPSS 27 for Beginners (with Puppies) ~2.5 hrs
from Research by Design / Dr. Todd Daniel
- START: Introduction to the Workspace ~ 23 min and Introduction to Syntax ~11.5 min
- All his SPSS Videos
SPSS Tutorials ~5 hrs total, including multivariate analyses
from Data Demystified / Jeff Galak
- START: Introduction to SPSS ~10 min
- Faster-paced with more tips and advanced analyses for graduate-level researcher.

Good Places to Start (Written)

SPSS Tutorials
from Kent State University Libraries / Statistical Consulting
- START: The SPSS Environment and Using SPSS Syntax
SPSS Tutorials
from Sigma Plus Statistiek / Ruben Geert van den Berg
- START: What is it? and SPSS Syntax Introduction
- Also has videos, e.g., Quick Introduction ~20 min and SPSS Syntax ~34 min
SPSS® Statistics guides
from Laerd Statistics
- Paid site often allows free access through a search engine (use the topic and "laerd").

Handouts from DDSS

SPSS - The Three Windows
Handout with tips on the three main SPSS windows.
SPSS 1 - Data Management
Review of Recoding and Computing
SPSS Syntax Reference
Handy Cheat Sheet to common SPSS syntax commands.

Special Topics

Introduction to [large scale] survey data - Data Skills Module from UK Data Service
- Text, Videos (YouTube Playlist), and Quizzes
Design and analysis in educational research ANOVA designs in SPSS by Strunk & Mwavita
- Book available ONLINE through Mason
- Designed for an introductory doctoral course focusing on t-tests and ANOVAs.

Data Management (Video)

SPSS from Social Science Data and Software by Standard University Libraries - 7 videos,
- Playlist also has videos on Stata & SAS (~1 hr)
SPSS tutorials for beginners (Nienke de Glas, Clinical Epidemiology)
- An experienced user shows newer researchers how to do common tasks and be efficient.
Data management with BrunelASK
- Entering data into SPSS Playlist (twelve ~5 min videos; BrunelASK)
- Compute or Recode Variables in SPSS Playlist (ten ~5 min videos each covering a specific task) - (BrunelASK)
- Code and define missing values in SPSS (4 min; BrunelASK)

Interpreting Results (Text)

For more on writing up results not specific to SPSS, see the Writing tab.

Setup through Writeup
- Stats with SPSS (Analysis only) - MASH University of Lincoln, UK
- A crash course in statistics - Ryan J. Winter - Book available ONLINE through Mason; does not include Regression.
- Psychology Resource Archive by University of Nebraska Department of Psychology - Largest collection
Annotated Output 1-Pagers:
- A Guide to Interpreting SPSS Output pdf by ICPSR - Small collection, but well-done.
- Basic Statistical Methods for Social Science Sourcebook: SPSS by Craig A. Wendorf

Need More?

These are huge collections of well-done videos (100+). They are not well organized. Thus, the links below go to the in-channel search with "SPSS". Add your own keywords to find what you are looking for.

Mike Crowson - Topics including ANOVA, Regression, SEM, Mediation, etc.
Dr. Todd Grande - From basic to advanced, including data management.