Getting In/Getting Out

To open a data file, go to the "File" menu and select "Open" and "Data". Then select the drive, path (folder), and name of the file that you wish to open.

To close a data file, you have two options. First, you can close a data file by opening a different data file. Second, you can close a data file by exiting SPSS (select "Exit" from the "File" menu). (Because SPSS only functions when it has data to analyze, it will not allow you to just close a data file.)

To save a data file, go to the File menu and select Save or Save As... (be sure to use "save as" if you have downloaded the data file from the web page.) CAUTION: be sure that the data window is in front. If you go through this save procedure with another window (output or syntax) in front, SPSS will save the contents of that window, not your data. Note also that if you make changes to your data file and try to close it without saving the data, SPSS will ask you if you want to save it.

Entering Data

Once you have opened the data file that I gave you (data2009.sav - if you need it, get it here), and have had 12 people complete surveys for you, you are ready to enter their responses into SPSS.

If the screen is showing the "variable view", click on the "data view" tab in the lower left corner of the screen.

The data file is arranged so that each row (going across the screen) represents a single respondent (or survey). Each column is a variable. You will enter data by typing a number (please see the variable coding sheet I handed out to determine what values should be typed in for each variable -- if you don't have it, get it here), beginning with the first box in the upper left corner, into each box. Once you have typed the number, please use the tab key to move the cursor to the next box. (Note DO NOT USE the enter key -- it will move the cursor down to the next row [i.e., the next survey] rather than across to the next column [i.e., next question]. The columns in the data file are in the same order as the questions on the survey.

Watch out for missing answers. When a respondent has not answered a question, skip the entry for that question (i.e., just leave it blank). Also watch out for question 28. There is a column in the data set for typing in the person's explanation of "other". Be sure to skip this column if the person marked some answer besides "other".

When you have finished entering all of the responses from one survey, you can return to the beginning of the row by pressing the left arrow key, or by hitting the "home" key. Move down one row, and begin entering the next person's survey responses with the left-most box.

Once you have entered all 12 responses, please save the data file. You can do this by clicking on the diskette icon on the toolbar (near the top left of the screen), or by selecting "save" from the "file" menu (use the "save as" selection on the "file" menu if you downloaded the data file from the website).