I spend a lot of time working in SPSS, and occasionally I need answers about various techniques and methods that aren’t readily available in the included documentation. Fortunately, there is a tremendous amount of free SPSS information and training materials scattered all over the web. Here are a few of my favorites.

Raynald’s SPSS Tools: Raynald has been using SPSS for over 15 years and has answered over 2,100 questios in various SPSS mailing lists. His site contains over 675 different syntax, macro and scripting examples, FAQs, a Newbie’s corner, and a support section for the SPSS book he published.

East Carolina Dept. of Psychology SPSS Guide: This page initially doesn’t look like much, but if you’re looking for information about univariate and multivariate analysis, there is a lot here to work with ranging from introductory lessons to much more advanced applications. Most of the SPSS tutorials are in the form of word documents that are quick and easy to print out as a reference.

comp.soft-sys.stat.spss: Not really a web site per se, but it is a great discussion board that contains thousands of messages on every conceivable SPSS related topic. If you have an SPSS question, odds are the answer is already here or someone can give you an answer in just a day or two. The link above takes you to google groups — you can also use a newsfeed to keep up with the latest in your favorite rss news reader.

SPSS Guide by Gil Einstein and Ken Aberethy: Alright, it is a little dated, but if you’re looking for a quick and easy to read step-by-step guide to computing a t-test, running an ANOVA, or setting up a data file, this is a good source.

Internet Guide to SPSS for Windows: This guide is well written and covers all of the basics and not so basic procedures you need to manipulate your data ranging from the basics (syntax, data files and output) to more advanced topics related to data transformation and analysis. It is very syntax oriented and reasonably old (1998), but most of what it describes still works and is helpful for understanding the software better.

If you have any others you’d like to share send me a note!

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Data Analysis Software, commentary Tags: guides, help, instructions, SPSS, step-by-step, tutorials

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