Learning the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) is so simple especially if you have knowledge on windows based applications such as Microsoft office applications like MS Word, Excel and Access. Another person who can easily learn SPSS within a day is a person who has basic ideas on statistics and data processing methodologies. This article assumes that the person who wants to learn SPSS has these basics and if it occurs that you are knowledgeable in basic computer applications software and statistics, a month or so to learn these will be a prerequisite.
So let me assume that you have the basics on computer application programs and also some understanding the statistical methodologies and that now you are set to learn SPSS. What you require to do is have your statistical data first even before you open the SPSS program. For example, you might decide to arrange your data in rows and columns in a sheet of paper. Such data may include those that deal with the grades of your class or even for the number of people who have been diagnosed with malaria over the past few months in your home town (this will depend on the area of your specialization).
Let’s take an example of grades of a class. You might have your column headings as the names of individual class members while the row names as the subjects or courses taken. Under each name therefore you will enter the grades per student in each course. On your sheet, you will have cells that you use to enter the data for mean grades, standard deviations, mean differences between subjects or block of subjects, variances and other statistical analytical tools. Remember, all these work is still on a piece of paper and you have not put it in the computer program.
After you are through with the blue print of your work, you can now open up the SPSS from your PC and enter the data. This blue print will help you understand the different parameters as you navigate in the programs menus, icons and other window panels for ease of use.
For someone who has used Excel and Access, using SPSS may prove so simple and easy. Yu might be surprised that you need not have any tutor or even go through the basic tutorial that comes with the program. When having problems using this package, SPSS can help you via the incorporated help support center that you can always click on to access its numerous tips and support manual.
Learning SPSS is important especially for those who are in the research field. I have had friends who spend a lot of money paying people who call themselves data analysis experts who you simply give your blue print (or data template) from which they design the analytical tool in SPSS which give them the results. It is important to know that the answers you are looking for of which you might pay these analytical experts huge sums of money is at your finger tips and you too can access the results simply by taking a day off and putting the time on learning SPSS.
By the way, many other computer applications will require such an approach and this will mean that you save a lot of money paying tutors or experts to do you either the training job or even doing for some kind of work you could easily do yourself.
