Using SPSS in Institutional Research Presented by Joseph

Using SPSS in Institutional Research Presented by Joseph Meyer Director of Institutional Research Texas State University-San Marcos TAIR Pre-Conference Workshop Wednesday, February 28, 2007 South Padre Island, Texas

What We’re Going to Cover • • Importing and exporting data Running reports Exporting reports Using modular programming. Using macros Using scripts Using graphs (maybe a little)

Import Data from MS Excel File Open Data File name: cbm 004_fall 06 Files of type: Excel (*. xls)

Export Data to MS Excel File Save As File name: cbm 004_fall 06 Save as type: Excel (*. xls)

Types of Reports

Categorical Variables There are several commands that can be used to report categorical variables: • • Aggregate & Report (very painful) Frequencies (simple, but inflexible) Crosstabs (simple, somewhat flexible) Tables & CTables (complex, flexible) Examples in “Reporting Categorical Variables” SPSS program.

Continuous (Scale) Variables There are several commands that can be used to report scale variables: • • Reports (don’t go there) Weighted frequencies & crosstabs Descriptives Tables & CTables Example in “Reporting Continuous (Scale) Variables” SPSS program.

Multiple-Response Variables There a couple of commands that can be used to report on multiple-response sets (MRSETS) of multiple-dichotomy & multiple-response data: • Mult Response • Tables & CTables Examples in “Reporting Multiple-Response Sets” SPSS program.

Reporting Separately by Unit There are other shortcuts that can be used to quickly and efficiently produce reports for many colleges, departments, and units in a hurry: • Modular programming • Macros • SAX Basic Scripts Examples in “Reporting Separately by Unit” SPSS program.

Improving the Contents of Reports String and number functions can be used to increase efficiency in programs, fit more information on a page, and make reports more understandable to readers: • Any, Index, Range, Concatenate, Substring, Trim, Lower, and Upcase functions can help. Examples in “String and Number Functions” SPSS program. “Working with Long Strings” SPSS program.

Improving the Look of Reports Double-click on table Right-click on highlighted table Table Looks Edit Look

Exporting Results File Export File Name: ______ File Type: ______ Examples in “Reporting Separately by Unit” SPSS program.

SPSS Production Mode Facility

Examples of Complex Reports The techniques we reviewed can be used to create complex ready-to-release reports. Examples are: • High School Feedback • Retention and Graduation • Fact Book Examples in “Complex Reports” folder.

More Examples www. ir. txstate. edu

More Resources www. spsstools. net