SPSS Statistics for Dummies, 3rd Edition

Chapter 3

A Simple Statistical Analysis Example

In This Chapter

Entering data into SPSS

Performing an analysis

Drawing a graph

The purpose of this chapter is to introduce you to the mechanics of working with SPSS. It begins with stepping through the process of entering some simple data into SPSS and continues with processing that data. This is followed by various procedures for deriving results, using a subset of the data for some calculations and other parts of the data for other calculations. Finally, the results from these different calculations are displayed in different ways.

The data for this example are simple, as are the displays that the data generate. The purpose of this chapter is not to present any great breakthrough in statistical analysis. Instead, we simply want to demonstrate the basic procedures you need to know about when you’re using SPSS.

When the Tanana at Nenana Thaws

This analysis is about an annual lottery that takes place in Alaska. Actually, it isn’t called a lottery — it’s called a classic, whatever that means.

We don’t know whether the Tanana Classic is the oldest lottery in the United States (it began in 1917), but it’s certainly the slowest. It has ...