SPSS Basics for UK Students

SPSS is still the default quantitative software on many UK psychology, business and health courses. This is a fast tour of what you actually need.

Step-by-step

1. Step 1: Variable View
   Set variable names, types, labels, values and measurement level. Get this right first.
2. Step 2: Descriptives
   Analyze > Descriptive Statistics > Frequencies or Descriptives.
3. Step 3: T-tests
   Compare means between two groups. Check assumptions with Levene's test.
4. Step 4: ANOVA
   Compare three or more groups. Follow with Tukey post-hoc.
5. Step 5: Correlation and regression
   Analyze > Correlate for r; Analyze > Regression > Linear for OLS.
6. Step 6: Report APA style
   State test, statistic, df, p-value and effect size where relevant.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Skipping assumption checks
• Reporting p-values without effect sizes

FAQs