MODULE 4: SAMPLE QUESTION SOLVED

SAMPLE QUESTION 1

Prof. Abayomi is interested in the number of Engineering courses that students have taken before enrolling in his course. He is also interested in comparing the number of the previous Engineering courses taken by Male and Female students taken by ten students, five men and five women. Enter this data into SPSS
Table 4.1

Student ID          Student Sex   No. of courses

01                    1                2

02                    1                1

03                    1                1

04                    1                2

05                    1                3

06                    2                3

07                    2                3

08                    2                2

09                    2                4

10                    2                3     

Note: There are three ‘variables’ in this table: a student ID number (from 01 to 10), a code indicating the student’s sex (where 1=male and 2= female), and the number of Engineering courses each student has taken (ranging from 1 to 4).           

PROCEDURES

Thus, the data is organized with the three variables (ID, Sex, Courses) listed in columns, and the scores for each of the ten students on each of these three variables entered in the rows. You will see that the data needs to be organized in this same way in SPSS.

STEP 1: Let's create this file in the Data Editor window on your computer. SPSS expects you to list variables in the columns, and individual scores from each participant in the rows of this spreadsheet. This is the same way that the data has been organized in Table 4.1, so this shouldn't be difficult to do. However, it’s a good idea to name the variables in SPSS before entering the individual scores. To name the variables, we need to activate the Variable View tab. To do this, simply click on that tab. It is important to note that in this view, the variables are listed in the rows (as opposed to being shown in the columns when the Data View tab is active). In the Variable View, instead of listing the variables in columns, characteristics of the variables are indicated in these columns. Again, we will return to a more complete discussion of this view later, but for now, our main interest is in the column titled Name. This is where we will type the names of our three variables by clicking on the appropriate cell in the first column of each row. Figure 4.1 shows the variable names, ID, Sex and Courses, typed in the name column of the first three rows. SPSS has rules for these variable names (e.g., there can be no spaces, the variable name must begin with a letter, and the maximum length is 8 characters). Upper or lower case may be used – SPSS doesn’t care which you use, so we have used lower case. Note that once a name has been typed in, SPSS default options appear in the next three columns. Don’t worry about these for now. The most important one to note is that all three variables are numeric (as opposed to letters), which is correct. Type these three variable names in your Data Editor window now. When you have finished, click the Data View tab at the bottom of the window. When you do this, you will see that the variable names you just typed in now appear as headings in the first three columns of the Data Editor window (Figure 4.2).

                                                      Fig. 4.1

                                                                   Fig. 4.2

STEP 2: Now we are ready to enter the data, or scores, for each student in the rows of this spreadsheet. To do this, simply type the scores shown in Table 4.1 into the appropriate cells. To begin, simply click the upper-most cell on the left and

• Enter the data in the first column
•     Type ‘1’ for the first Student ID; press enter.
•     Type ‘2’ for the second ID, press enter.
•     Continue typing the remaining ID numbers in this column.
• Enter the data in the second column
•     Click on the first cell of the column titled Sex; type ‘1’ for the first student's Sex.
•      Press enter and continue typing the remaining codes for student sex.
•  Enter the data in the third column
•           Click on the first cell of the column titled Courses; type ‘2’ the number of courses.
• Press enter and continue typing the remaining number of courses taken.

Alternatively, you could enter your data across each row rather than down the columns. That is, after typing the first student ID, you could use your right-arrow key to stay on that row and enter that student's sex; press the right-arrow again and type the number of courses for the first student. Then click on the first cell of the second row and enter the data across that row for the second student in the same way. When you have finished entering your data from Table 4.1, your Data Editor window should look like the one shown in Figure 4.3.

Fig. 4.3

Watch out for module 5.