While it might not feel much like it, we have come a long way. Granted we have not done much in the way of statistics – there are no linear regressions here, or one way ANOVAs, but we have learnt a great deal about our data set, and also a fair bit about the ways SPSS works. These are both important in building your confidence both in using SPSS and in your understanding of the way your data behaves.
The exercises have been designed (you did do them, didn’t you?) to give you practice both in the ways of SPSS (which are, occasionally, a bit weird, like having to click on ‘Change’ to name a new variable) and in understanding the data set we used as examples. Be honest – you probably know a lot more about the Atlantic slave trade now than you did before although we have not really performed any heavy duty statistical analysis on the data.
You should be able now to use simple analysis tools to understand your data set in its broadest outlines, and to extract data which is implicit within your data set, such as, in our case, the number of men on a voyage. You can also aggregate data and use the chart tools to visualise you data. These are all important parts of understanding what is going on.
As for going further, you will need to learn statistics from elsewhere, but there should be a ‘Moving on with SPSS’ course along in a while. In the meantime, if you would like the answer sheet to the exercises, you can download it here.
Durham SPSS 