SPSS, demystified.

SPSS frightens more students than statistics itself. The software is only a tool; the fear comes from not having a workflow. Here is the one we teach, from a messy spreadsheet to results you can defend in a viva.

1. Set up your variables properly

Before any analysis, define each variable’s type, measure (nominal, ordinal, scale) and value labels. Ninety percent of SPSS confusion comes from skipping this step.

2. Clean before you analyse

• Check for impossible or out-of-range values
• Decide, and document, how you handle missing data
• Recode and compute new variables you will need
• Screen for outliers that distort your tests

3. Match the test to the question

Comparing two group means points to a t-test; more than two, ANOVA; relationships between scale variables, correlation and regression; associations between categories, chi-square. Choosing the test is a research-design decision, not a menu click.

4. Interpret, do not just report

A p-value is not a conclusion. Report the effect size, explain what it means for your research question, and be ready to defend why you chose that test. That is what separates a pass from a distinction.

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