Using SPSS in Institutional Research

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Using SPSSin Institutional Research

• Presented by Joseph Meyer
• Director of Institutional Research
• Texas State University-San Marcos
• TAIR Pre-Conference Workshop
• Wednesday, February 28, 2007
• South Padre Island, Texas

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What Were Going to Cover

• Importing and exporting data
• Running reports
• Exporting reports
• Using modular programming.
• Using macros
• Using scripts
• Using graphs (maybe a little)

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Import Data from MS Excel
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Export Data to MS Excel
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Types of Reports
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Categorical Variables

• There are several commands that can be used to
  report categorical variables
• Aggregate Report (very painful)
• Frequencies (simple, but inflexible)
• Crosstabs (simple, somewhat flexible)
• Tables CTables (complex, flexible)

Examples in Reporting Categorical Variables
SPSS program.
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Continuous (Scale) Variables

• There are several commands that can be used to
  report scale variables
• Reports (dont go there)
• Weighted frequencies crosstabs
• Descriptives
• Tables CTables

Example in Reporting Continuous (Scale)
Variables SPSS program.
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Multiple-Response Variables

• There are a couple of commands that can be used
  to report on multiple-response sets (MRSETS) of
  multiple-dichotomy multiple-response data
• Mult Response
• Tables CTables

Examples in Reporting Multiple-Response Sets
SPSS program.
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Reporting Separately by Unit

• There are other shortcuts that can be used to
  quickly and efficiently produce reports for many
  colleges, departments, and units in a hurry
• Modular programming
• Macros
• SAX Basic Scripts

Examples in Reporting Separately by Unit SPSS
program.
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Improving the Contents of Reports

• String and number functions can be used to
  increase efficiency in programs, fit more
  information on a page, and make reports more
  understandable to readers
• Any, Index, Range, Concatenate, Substring, Trim,
  Lower, and Upcase functions can help.

Examples in String and Number Functions SPSS
program. Working with Long Strings SPSS
program.
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Improving the Look of Reports
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Exporting Results
Examples in Reporting Separately by Unit SPSS
program.
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SPSS Production Mode Facility
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Examples of Complex Reports

• The techniques we reviewed can be used to create
  complex ready-to-release reports. Examples are
• High School Feedback
• Retention and Graduation
• Fact Book

Examples in Complex Reports folder.
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More Examples
www.ir.txstate.edu
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More Resources
www.spsstools.net