Chapter 1

Working Through Import and Export Challenges

IN THIS CHAPTER

Resolving trouble with delimiters on import

Exporting output

In this chapter you learn about ways to transfer data into and out of SPSS. Getting data into SPSS is the first step before any analysis can be done. If the data is available in an SPSS data file (.sav file extension), bringing that data into SPSS is easy. If your data comes from another program such as Excel or is in the txt, CSV, or SAS format, you can import that data into SPSS with just a little more work. The examples in this chapter demonstrate some complications that arise when importing these types of files.

After SPSS analyzes your data and displays results in easy-to-understand tables and graphs, you might want to use the results in another application to share your findings with others. This might involve

• Formatting tables as cleanly as possible for clarity of presentation and ease of viewing
• Exporting output to a file format that can be read by any user, such as Portable Document Format (pdf)
• Doing post-processing on pivot tables in another application, such as Microsoft Excel

Applications such as Microsoft's PowerPoint or Word can display the results of your analyses as plain text, as rich text, or as a metafile, which is a graphical representation of the output. Pivot tables can be pasted or exported to Microsoft Excel with each cell of the pivot table in a separate Excel cell.

In this chapter, you both copy and paste as well as export your SPSS output to another application.

Importing Data

This section contains an example of a procedure you can follow to read data from Excel files into SPSS. Along the way, SPSS keeps you informed about what's going on so there won't be any big surprises at the end. Here are a few things to consider to make the import process a little easier:

• When reading the Excel file into SPSS, the file must not be open in Excel.
• Variable names are read from the first row of the Excel spreadsheet. However, the blank spaces in the variable names are removed because blanks are not allowed in SPSS variable names.
• The measurement levels of variables are assigned based on the criterion defined in Data options. Variables with a small number of values are set to nominal. Variables with many values are set to scale.
• SPSS reads only the values in the cells of the spreadsheet. Formulas in the spreadsheet will be computed and these computed values imported to SPSS.
• The formulas and other spreadsheet characteristics associated with the cells are not imported to SPSS.

We strongly recommend opening the original file in the software where it is stored so you can see how the file is structured.

In the following example, the Excel workbook has two worksheets: The first is the title page and the second contains the data. Do the following to read this data into SPSS:

1. Choose File ? Import Data ? Excel.

2. Select the GSS2018 Title.xlsx file and then click Open.

   You can download the file from the book's companion website at www.dummies.com/go/spssstatisticsworkbookfd.

3. In the Worksheet drop-down list, select the GSS2018 worksheet.

   An Excel file can contain more than one worksheet, and you can choose the worksheet you want from the drop-down list, as shown in Figure 1-1.

   Also, if you've elected to read only part of the data, use the Range drop-down list to specify the range of Excel cells that you want to import. Use the five check boxes, as needed, to specify whether the names of variables appear in the first row, the percentage of data to use to determine the variable type, and how to handle leading or trailing spaces.

   Inspect the data preview to make sure the variables and data will be read properly.

   FIGURE 1-1: Select which data in the spreadsheet to include.

4. Click the Read Variable Names from the First Row of Data check box.

5. Click OK.

   Your data appears in the SPSS window.

6. Switch to the Variable View tab to examine the variable definitions and make any changes.

   SPSS makes a bunch of assumptions about your data, and some of those assumptions are probably wrong.

7. Save the file using your chosen SPSS name, and you're off and running.

See the following for an example of importing data into SPSS.

Q. Text files are another common source of data. Many spreadsheet programs and databases can save their contents in a text file format. Commonly used delimiter characters are tabs or commas.

Import the file GSS2018.csv to SPSS. Note that the comma-separated file has variable names in the first row. The variable names are in the first row and the data begins in row 2.

A. Do the following:

1. Choose File ? Import Data ? CSV Data.

2. Select the GSS2018.csv file, and then click Open.

   The Text Import Wizard appears, allowing you to load and format your data. Examine the input data. The screen lets you peek at the contents of the input file so you can verify that you've chosen the right file.

3. Click Advanced Options (Text Wizard). Examine the input data.

   If your file uses a predefined format (it doesn't in this example), you can select it here and skip some of the later steps.

4. Click Continue.

5. Specify that the data is delimited and the names are included.

   SPSS takes a guess, but you can also specify how your data is organized. It can be divided using commas (as in this example), spaces, tabs, semicolons, or some combination. Or your data may not be divided - it may be that all the data items are jammed together and each has a fixed width. If your text file includes the names of the variables, you need to tell SPSS.

6. Click Continue.

7. Specify how SPSS should interpret the text.

   You can tell SPSS something about the file and which data you want to read.

   Perhaps some lines at the top of the file should be ignored - this happens when you're reading data from text intended for printing and header information is at the top. By telling SPSS about it, those first lines can be skipped.

   Also, you can have one line of text represent one case (one row of data in SPSS), or you can have SPSS count the variables to determine where each row starts.

   And you don't have to read the entire file - you can select a maximum number of lines to read starting at the beginning of the file, or you can select a percentage of the total and have lines of text randomly selected throughout the file.

8. Click Continue.

9. Specify tab as the delimiter.

   SPSS can use commas, spaces, tabs, and semicolons as delimiting characters. You can even use some other character as a delimiter by selecting Other and then typing the character. You can also specify whether your text is formatted with quotes (which is common) and whether you use single or double quotes.

   Strings must be surrounded in quotes if they contain any of the characters being used as delimiters.

10. Click Continue.

11. If necessary, change the variable name and data format.

    SPSS makes a guess for the type of each variable. To change a name, select it in the column heading at the bottom of the window, and then type the new name in the Variable Name field at the top. If you need to change the format, use the Data Format drop-down list.

    You can also change the data types later in the Variable View tab of the Data Editor window.

12. Click Continue.

13. In the Would You Like to Save This File Format for Future Use? section, click No.

    Saving the file format for future use is something you would do if you were loading more files of this same format into SPSS - it reduces the number of questions to answer and the amount of formatting to do next time.

14. Click the Done button.
15. Look at the data, and correct the data types and formats, if necessary. Then save it all to a file by choosing File ? Save As.

1 Import the GSS2018.xlsx file to SPSS. This example has one worksheet, the variable names are in the first row, and the data begins in row 2.

2 Import the GSS2018 extra title.xlsx file to SPSS. This example has two worksheets in the Excel workbook. The first worksheet is the title page. The second worksheet contains the data, with the variable names in the first row and the data beginning in row 5.

3 Import the GSS2018.dat file to SPSS. This file has a DAT format. The variable names are in the first row and the data begins in row 2.

4 Import the GSS2018 lines.txt file to SPSS. This file has a TXT format. The variable names are in the first row and the data begins in row 3.

Exporting Results

If you have a single table or a small number of tables, you can copy and paste these directly into a file opened in another application. Alternatively, SPSS provides an export facility to...