SPSS Review using GSS (General Social Survey) data

First, I am using a free, open-source program named PSPP. You can read about it and download here. as far as I can tell, it is able to perform the functions necessary for the beginning review exercises in the book: SPSS Guide to Data Analysis. Click to download the data file for this book (v. 15, at least).

CH 3: COUNTING RESPONSES

OBJECTIVES

• Using a frequency table - to summarize info, find errors in data
• Finding percentage and cumulative percentages
• Graphical displays with pie and bar charts, and histograms
• The mode, median, and mean of responses
• Using the gss.sav data file (General Social Survey)

Mean, Median, and Mode

Mode is the most frequently found value.

• in the data, 1 7 9 1 4 0 1 1 4 2, the mode is 1 because it appears most frequently.

Median is the middle value when the data are arranged from smallest to highest.

• for 2 9 1 8 0 3, the median is (0 1 2 3 8 9) 2.5 = even number of data halfway b/n the two middle values, for odd data, the exact one in the middle (0 1 2 3 7 8 9) = 3

Mean is the average value of the data.

• for 3 5 1 0 2 3, 3+5+1+0+2+3=14/6 (no. of data) = 2.33

Frequency Table: Counting Reponses

Using the gss.sav data, and the variable satjob (job satisfaction),

satjob

Label: JOB OR HOUSEWORK

Type: F1.0

Missing Values: 0, 8, 9

Measurement Level: Ordinal

Value Labels:

0 NAP

1 VERY SATISFIED

2 MOD. SATISFIED

3 A LITTLE DISSAT

4 VERY DISSATISFIED

8 DK

9 NA

we find this frequency table, describing the data from the GSS