SPSS For Dummies [Paperback]

Arthur Griffith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 12, 2010 | ISBN-10: 047048764X | ISBN-13: 978-0470487648 | Edition: 2

The fun and friendly guide to the world's leading statistical software

Predictive Analysis Software (PASW), formerly SPSS software, is the leading statistical software used by commerical, government, and academic organizations around the world to solve business and research problems. It allows you to quickly and easily discover new insights from data, test hypotheses, and build powerful predictive models.

PASW Statistics For Dummies covers everything you need to know to get up and running with this efficient and practical software.

• PASW Statistics is the leading statistical software used to analyze data and create predictive models; it is used by business, academic, and government entities worldwide
• This guide explains how to work with automatic codebook generation and customize the variable view
• Walks you through the rounding method that is used in all calculations and explains using predictive analysis
• Shows how to maximize your use of graph templates, and much more

Even if you have little or no statistical or mathematical background, PASW Statistics For Dummies will show you how to generate statistical support and decision-making information quickly and easily.

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Need to analyze some data? SPSS is your statistical friend — let it crunch the numbers!

Surprise — this book is not about statistics. It's about using SPSS to calculate statistics for you! Here are step-by-step procedures you can follow to see how SPSS operates and start using it with your own data. You'll be able to enter data, produce graphs, use the statistical methods built into SPSS to generate the numbers you need, and much more.

• Predict the future — use SPSS to identify business risks and opportunities

• Learn your way around — install SPSS and set up the options to serve your needs

• Enter the data — instruct SPSS to collect data from a database or another file, or type it in yourself

• Data in, data out — export the results of your analysis for use in a database, Web page, Excel® worksheet, or Word document

• Go graphic — create bar graphs, line charts, scatterplots, pie charts, histograms, and others

• Welcome to analysis — learn different ways SPSS can crunch numbers and how to get the analysis you're looking for

• Extend the possibilities — customize SPSS with Command Syntax or create new scripts with Python®

• Your greatest asset — protect your data and make regular backups

Open the book and find:

• What you can and can't do with SPSS

• Types of graphs and how to use them

• How to manually enter data

• Suggestions for sorting, identifying, and grouping data

• Data types and how to use them

• What a scatterplot can show you

• How to back up and protect your data

• A glossary of SPSS and statistics terms

About the Author

Arthur Griffith is a former computer consultant for the U.S. Department of Defense. After working for 25 years as a programmer and software development project manager, he became a writer of computer books and has now written 14 of them.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 2 edition (January 12, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 047048764X
• ISBN-13: 978-0470487648
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #15,181 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Statistics for Dummies - Like Making a Word Salad, November 1, 2007

By 

TastyBabySyndrome "Matthew Lewis, author of M... ("Daddy Dagon's Daycare" - Proud Sponsor of the Little Tendril Baseball Team, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: SPSS For Dummies (Paperback)

The "For Dummies" series are funny books and are sometimes helpful but, much like Sparknotes or Cliffnotes, they are inherently flawed. This is ESPECIALLY true for anything that has to do with computerization; if you really need to earn something then you really need a book that will teach you a solid way to generate results. In the case of SPSS I really thinks this is true and then some - the program gives you all sorts of ways to test and to generate answers BUT the word dummies doesn't really play here.
If anything, it seems criminal to tell people they can learn something without hammering away at it.

A few of my students have used this book and the truth of the matter is this: they learn the most basic functions of the program but, when asked to perform something a little more difficult, they freeze and their eyes frost. The book doesn't add in the terminology needed, doesn't cover the ideas behind concepts, and doesn't even cover the stuff an introduction class would.
If you need help and need it badly, this would set you back and confuse you even more. Instead, you could buy a SPSS Basics book to grasp the immediate, look into an Experimental Design class to learn what SPSS is attempting (you can look online and see what classes require, then mirror the class without taking it if you can't afford the time), or you could consult the program and the book that accompanies it. Either way, this is not progression but the illusion of progression and you can tell that by reading exactly what it promises to teach you.
Very bad primed.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SPSS for Dummies, November 4, 2007

By 

James R. Bryson "Jim Bryson" (Guntown, MS) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: SPSS For Dummies (Paperback)

This book is very helpful in becoming acquainted with the rather complex SPSS statistics software program. I recommend the book for others who need assistance in learning how to use this statistical software and need it presented in a practical manner for the lay person.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Learn statistics FIRST !, June 11, 2009

By 

Bassam Bokhowa "Bassam Bokhowa" (Bahrain) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SPSS For Dummies (Paperback)

This Dummies book will get you introduced to SPSS but will use all sorts of statistics jargon and you are lost unless you've built a solid foundation in statistics previously. Also, it hardly touches on some quite basic yet very useful parts of SPSS (e.g. descriptive statistics>frequencies) ... quite odd ! If you're new to both SPSS and statistics this may be a better choice Discovering Statistics Using SPSS (Introducing Statistical Methods)