How to Insert a Variable in SPSS or PASW Statistics
IBM produces SPSS Statistics, a software program that allows businesses to analyze data and trends. The program allows you to insert variables to compute data and create tables. To insert a new variable in SPSS, you'll need to know the basics of the program and statistics vocabulary.
Instructions
-
-
1
Open the file in which you want to enter a new variable. Click the tab labeled "Variable View." (You can click on the thumbnail image to see a screenshot showing where the Variable View tab is located.)
-
2
Click on any row, and go to the menu "Edit" then "Insert Variable."
-
-
3
In the "Name" column, type a name for your variable.
-
4
In the "Type" column, click on the cell that indicates the "type" of your new variable; this is the cell right after the variable name and will typically say something like "Numeric" or "String" by default. Clicking this cell will bring up a box that lets you select a type. If your variable is a regular number, select "Numeric," and choose the number of decimal places that you would like SPSS to display. If the variable is a date, select "Date"; if it is a monetary value, select "Currency", and if it is a text value, select "String" and select the maximum number of characters that the text string can contain. If you don't know how long the longest word phrase is, it's fine to choose a large value such as 50.
-
5
In the last column, click on the "Measure" box. If your variable expresses categorical data, such as discrete categories like male vs. female, experimental group vs. control group, choose "Nominal." If your variable is an ordinal variable, choose "Order." For any other type of numerical variable, select "Scale."
-
1
Tips & Warnings
"Variable View" contains other columns, such as width, decimals, values, label, missing (allows you to define a placeholder for missing values), columns and align. Feel free to experiment with these values to observe the effects upon your data.
