Introduction to SPSS:

Defining Variables
and
Data Entry
You will be on this page
after “SPSS” is started

Click “Cancel”
Choose “variable view” by clicking this button
Type the name of the variable here
 Lets assume our first variable is “Gender”

The variable name “Gender” has been typed

 Click “Type” (1)

Press “OK” (3)

(2)
Choose “Numeric”
Type a label for this variable, e.g. Gender of Respondent*

*Note: It is not necessary to provide a label for the variable. It

serves to remind the researcher about the variable if a label is
provided
 1. Click “Values” 2. Click this sign to assign
the “Value Labels” of the
variable
4. Click
Assuming we have the following coding scheme for “Gender”
“add” 1.Male
2.Female

3. Type “1” here, then “Male” here

After “Add” is pressed the value label 1 = “Male” is transferred here
 1. Type “2”

2. Type “Female”

3. Press “Add”
 2. Press “OK” to execute the process

1. The value label 2 = “Female” is now here

 The process of defining the first
variable “Gender” is now
completed.

Press the 1st column of the 2nd row to define the 2nd variable

Lets say the 2nd variable is “Age”

Type “Age”
Under the “Label” type “Age Group of Respondent”
Assuming we have the following coding scheme for “Age”

1. 20 – 25 years
2. 26 – 30 years
3. 31 – 35 years
4. 36 – 40 years
5. 41 years and above
 1. Press here to define the value labels

2. Type 1 for “Value”

3. Type 20 -25 years for “Value Label”

4. Click “Add”

Repeat Steps 2, 3, 4 for the remaining value labels:

•Value 2 ; Value Label 26 – 30 years
•Value 3 ; Value Label 31 – 35 years
•Value 4 ; Value Label 36 – 40 years
•Value 5 ; Value Label 41 and above
Press “OK” after all the value labels for
“Age” have been defined
The process of assigning the value labels for “Age”
is completed
Lets move to the third variable.

• Assume that the next item in the questionnaire asks respondent to indicate
his/her degree of agreement to the following statement:

I enjoy my Business Research Methods class

1. Strongly Disagree
2. Disagree
3. Undecided
4. Agree
5. Strongly Agree
I have chosen BRM1 as the variable name to indicate that it is
the first question related to “Business Research Methods”. It
is arbitrary, we can also use other names.
Under the “Label” give a short descriptive label for
the variable, e.g. “Enjoy BRM”
 1. Press here to define the value labels for BRM1

2. Type “1” for “Value”, and type “Strongly Disagree”

3. Press “Add” for “Value Label”
 B

Press OK to execute

Repeat the process for the remaining value labels of BRM1, i.e.
2. Disagree
3. Undecided
4. Agree
5. Strongly Agree
The variable BRM1 and its value labels are now
defined
Now let us practice some data entry with SPSS

Assume we have received ten completed questionnaires from our respondents.

Respondent 1 with the following responses:

Female (2)
Value labels for “Male” and
26 – 30 years (2)
“Female” in variable “Gender”
Agree (4)

Respondent 2 with the following responses:

Male (1)
31 – 35 years (3)
Disagree (2)

Respondent 3 with the following responses

Female (2)
31 – 35 years (3)
Strongly Agree (5)
Now let us practice some data entry with SPSS

Assume we have received ten completed questionnaires from our respondents.

Respondent 1 with the following responses:

Female (2)
Value labels for “Age Groups” in
26 – 30 years (2)
variable “Age”
Agree (4)

Respondent 2 with the following responses:

Male (1)
31 – 35 years (3)
Disagree (2)

Respondent 3 with the following responses

Female (2)
31 – 35 years (3)
Strongly Agree (5)
Now let us practice some data entry with SPSS

Assume we have received ten completed questionnaires from our respondents.

Respondent 1 with the following responses:

Female (2)
Value labels for the “degree of
26 – 30 years (2)
agreement” in variable “BRM1”
Agree (4)

Respondent 2 with the following responses:

Male (1)
31 – 35 years (3)
Disagree (2)

Respondent 3 with the following responses

Female (2)
31 – 35 years (3)
Strongly Agree (5)
Respondent 4 Respondent 8
Male (1) Female (2)
41 years and above (5) 20 -25 years (1)
Agree (4) Strongly Agree (5)

Respondent 5 Respondent 9
Female (2) Male (1)
31 – 35 years (3) 31 – 35 years (3)
Strongly Agree (5) Disagree (2)

Respondent 10
Respondent 6
Female (2)
Male (1)
26 – 30 years (2)
20 – 25 years (1)
Agree (4)
Disagree (2)

Respondent 7
Male (1)
26 – 30 years (2)
Agree (4)
 To start entering data, we need to switch to the “Data View”

Switch to the “Data View” by pressing this button

 Type the values of the responses for Respondent 1 (Row 1) for the
three variables (Gender, Age, and BRM1)

Respondent 1 with the following responses:

Female (2)
26 – 30 years (2)
Agree (4)
 Respondent 2
Male (1)
31 – 35 years (3)
Disagree (2)

Respondent 2 is in Row 2
 Respondent 3
Female (2)
31 – 35 years (3) Repeat the process for all the
Strongly Agree (5) remaining respondents.
Respondent 4
Male (1)
41 years and above (5)
Agree (4)
Respondent 5
Female (2)
31 – 35 years (3)
Respondent 9
Strongly Agree (5)
Male (1)
31 – 35 years (3)
Respondent 6
Disagree (2)
Male (1)
20 – 25 years (1)
Respondent 10
Disagree (2)
Female (2)
26 – 30 years (2) Respondent 7
Agree (4) Male (1)
Now, the data entry process for
26 – 30 years (2) the 10 respondents is completed.
Agree (4)
Don’t forget to save our work
Respondent 8 before we logoff.
Female (2)
20 -25 years (1)
Strongly Agree (5)
1. Click “File” ,
2. Then “Save As..”
5. Press “Save”

3. Choose your folder

4. Type in the name that

you want for this file,
e.g. practice
Descriptive Analysis
Descriptive Analysis
Opening an SPSS Data File
1. File → 2. Open → 3. Data
Choose the folder
where your SPSS data
is saved
1. Select the SPSS data file you 2. Press “Open”
want to open for analysis
PERFORMING DESCRIPTIVE
ANALYSIS
1. Analyze →
2. Descriptive Statistics →
3. Frequencies
1. Select the variable(s) to analyze

2. Click this arrow to bring the selected

variable(s) to the right
The selected variable is now
brought to the “Variable(s)”
box
Select all the variables you
want to analyze
 3. Press “OK” to execute

2. Press “Continue”

1. Choose “Charts” if you

also want to have the
frequencies to be
displayed in charts. I
have selected “Pie
charts”
SPSS OUTPUT
Frequencies

Statistics

AGE MARITAL
GROUP OF STATUS OF
RESPOND RESPOND ORGANISATI LENGTH OF
ENT ENT ONAL TYPE SERVICE
N Valid 30 30 30 30
Missing 0 0 0 0

The number of respondents

Frequency Table

AGE GROUP OF RESPONDENT

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Valid 25 YEARS AND BELOW 4 13.3 13.3 13.3
26 - 35 YEARS 24 80.0 80.0 93.3
36 YEARS AND ABOVE 2 6.7 6.7 100.0
Total 30 100.0 100.0

The % of respondents for each group

 MARITAL STATUS OF RESPONDENT

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Valid MARRIED 26 86.7 86.7 86.7
SINGLE 4 13.3 13.3 100.0
Total 30 100.0 100.0

ORGANISATIONAL TYPE

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Valid SEMI-GOVT ORGN 30 100.0 100.0 100.0

LENGTH OF SERVICE

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Valid 3 YEARS OR LESS 6 20.0 20.0 20.0
4 - 6 YEARS 8 26.7 26.7 46.7
7 - 9 YEARS 7 23.3 23.3 70.0
10 - 12 YEARS 9 30.0 30.0 100.0
Total 30 100.0 100.0
A GE GR OU P OF R E SP ON DE N T

25 YE ARS AN D
BELOW
26 - 35 YEAR S
36 Y EARS AND
ABO VE
LENGTH OF SERVICE

3 YEARS OR
LESS
4 - 6 YEARS
7 - 9 YEARS
10 - 12 YEARS