Orientation

Windows in SPSS

There are a number of different types of windows that you will see in SPSS:

Data Editor window

This window displays the contents of the data file. You may create new data files, or modify existing ones with the Data Editor. The Data Editor window opens automatically when you start an SPSS session.

Viewer window

The Viewer window displays the statistical results, tables, and charts from the analysis you performed (e.g., descriptive statistics, correlations, plots, charts). A Viewer window opens automatically when you run a procedure that generates output. In the Viewer windows, you can edit, move, delete and copy your results in a Microsoft Explorer-like environment.

Draft Viewer window

You can display output as simple text (instead of interactive pivot tables) in the Draft Viewer.

Pivot Table Editor window

Output displayed in pivot tables can be modified in many ways with the Pivot Table Editor. You can edit text, swap data in rows and columns, add color, create multidimensional tables, and selectively hide and show results.

Chart Editor window

You can modify and save high-resolution charts and plots in chart windows. You can change the colors, select different type fonts or sizes, switch the horizontal and vertical axes, rotate 3-D scatter plots, and even change the chart type.

Text Output Editor window

Text output not displayed in pivot tables can be modified with the Text Output Editor. You can edit the output and change font characteristics (type, style, color, size).

Syntax Editor window

You can paste your dialog box choices into a Syntax Editor window, where your selections appear in the form of command syntax. You can then edit the command syntax to utilize special features of SPSS not available through dialog boxes. If you are familiar with SPSS software under other operating systems (e.g., Unix), you can open up a Syntax Editor window and enter SPSS commands exactly as you did under those platforms and execute the job. You can save these commands in a file for use in subsequent SPSS sessions.

Script Editor window

Scripting and OLE automation allow you to customize and automate many tasks in SPSS. Use the Script Editor to create and modify basic scripts.

If you have more than one open Viewer window, output is routed to the designated Viewer window. If you have more than one open Syntax Editor window, command syntax is pasted into the designated Syntax Editor window. (Paste feature will be explained later.) The designated windows are indicated by an exclamation point (!) in the status bar at the bottom of each SPSS window. You can change the designated window at any time by selecting it (making it active) and clicking the highlighted pushbutton on the toolbar. An active window is the currently selected window which appears in the foreground. An active window may not be a designated window until you instruct SPSS to make it a designated window (by clicking the icon on the toolbar).

Menus in SPSS for Windows

Many of the tasks you may want to perform with SPSS start with menu selections. Each window in SPSS has its own menu bar with menu selections appropriate for that window type. The Data Editor window, for example, has the following menu with its associated toolbar:

Most menus are common for all windows and some are found in certain types of windows.

Common menus

File

Use the File menu to create a new SPSS system file, open an existing system file, read in spreadsheet or database files created by other software programs (you can read data into SPSS from any database format for which you have an ODBC [Open Database Connectivity] driver), read in an external ASCII data file from the Data Editor; create a command file, retrieve an already created SPSS command file into the Syntax Editor; open, save, and print output files from the Viewer and Pivot Table Editor; and save chart templates and export charts in external formats in the Chart Editor, etc.

Edit

Use the Edit menu to cut, copy, and paste data values from the Data Editor; modify or copy text from the Viewer or Syntax Editor; copy charts for pasting into other applications from the Chart Editor, etc.

View

Use the View menu to turn toolbars and the status bar on and off, and turn grid lines on and off from all window types; and control the display of value labels and data values in the Data Editor.

Analyze

This menu is selected for various statistical procedures such as crosstabulation, analysis of variance, correlation, linear regression, and factor analysis.

Graphs

Use the Graphs menu to create bar charts, pie charts, histograms, scatterplots, and other full-color, high-resolution graphs. Some statistical procedures also generate graphs. All graphs can be customized with the Chart Editor.

Utilities

Use the Utilities menu to display information about variables in the working data file and control the list of variables from all window types; change the designated Viewer and Syntax Editor, etc.

Window

Use the Window menu to switch between SPSS windows or to minimize all open SPSS windows.

Help

This menu opens a standard Microsoft Help window containing information on how to use the many features of SPSS. Context-sensitive help is available through the dialog boxes.

Data Editor specific menus

Data

Use the Data menu to make global changes to SPSS data files, such as transposing variables and cases, or creating subsets of cases for analysis, and merging files. These changes are only temporary and do not affect the permanent file unless you save the file with the changes.

Transform

Use the Transform menu to make changes to selected variables in the data file and to compute new variables based on the values of existing ones. These changes are temporary and do not affect the permanent file unless you save the file with changes.

Draft View specific menus

Insert

Use the Insert menu to change the page breaks.

Format

Use the Format menu to change font characteristics, underline, and bold.

Pivot Table Editor specific menus

Insert

Use the Insert menu to insert titles, captions, and footnotes; and to create table breaks.

Pivot

Use the Pivot menu to perform basic pivoting tasks, to turn pivoting trays on and off, and to go to specific layers in a multidimensional pivot table.

Format

Use the Format menu to modify table and cell properties; to apply and change TableLook formats; and to change font characteristics, footnote markers, and the width of data cells.

Chart Editor specific menus

Gallery

Use the Galley menu to change the chart type.

Chart

Use the Chart menu to modify layout and labeling characteristics of your chart.

Series

Use the Series menu to select data series and categories to display or omit.

Format

Use the Format menu to select fill patterns, colors, line styles, bar style, bar label styles, interpolation type, and text fonts and sizes. You can also swap axes of plots, explode one or more slices of a pie chart, change the treatment of missing values in lines, and rotate 3-D scatterplots.

Text Output Editor specific menu

Insert

Use the Insert menu to change the page breaks.

Syntax Editor specific menu

Run

Use the Run menu to run the selected commands.

Script Editor specific menu

Debug

Use the Debug menu to step through your code, executing one line or subroutine at a time and viewing the result. You can also insert a break point in tht script to pause the execution at the line that contains the break point.

Toolbars in SPSS for Windows

Each SPSS window has its own toolbar that provides quick and easy access to common tasks. Tool Tips provide a brief description of each tool when you put the mouse pointer on the tool. For example, the toolbar with Syntax Editor window shows the following tool tip when the mouse pointer is put on the run icon:

Status Bar in SPSS for Windows

A status bar at the bottom of the SPSS application window indicates the current status of the SPSS processor. If the processor is running a command, it displays the command name and a case counter indicating the current case number being processed. When you first begin an SPSS session, the status bar displays the message Starting SPSS Processor. When SPSS is ready, the message changes to SPSS Processor is ready. The status bar also provides information such as command status, filter status, weight status, and split file status. The following status bar in an Viewer window, for example, shows that the current Viewer window is the designated output window and the SPSS is ready to run:

Options in SPSS for Windows

You can personalize your SPSS session by altering the default Options settings.

• Select Edit/Options...

• Click the tabs for the settings you want to change.
• Change the settings.
• Click OK or Apply.

For example, within variable list boxes in dialogs, you have the option to display the variable name as always or the entire variable label (up to 256 characters) can be displayed.

• Click General from the Options dialog box
• Click either Display labels or Display names under the Variable Lists
• Click OK