SPSS

For other uses, see SPSS (disambiguation).

etary 4GL command syntax language. Command syntax

programming has the benets of reproducibility, simplifying repetitive tasks, and handling complex data manipulations and analyses. Additionally, some complex applications can only be programmed in syntax and are not
accessible through the menu structure. The pull-down
menu interface also generates command syntax: this can
be displayed in the output, although the default settings
have to be changed to make the syntax visible to the user.
They can also be pasted into a syntax le using the paste
button present in each menu. Programs can be run interactively or unattended, using the supplied Production Job
Facility.

SPSS Statistics is a software package used for statistical

analysis. Long produced by SPSS Inc., it was acquired
by IBM in 2009. The current versions (2015) are ocially named IBM SPSS Statistics. Companion products in the same family are used for survey authoring and
deployment (IBM SPSS Data Collection), data mining
(IBM SPSS Modeler), text analytics, and collaboration
and deployment (batch and automated scoring services).

The software name originally stood for Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS),[2] reecting the
original market, although the software is now popular in
other elds as well, including the health sciences and mar- Additionally a macro language can be used to write
command language subroutines. A Python programmaketing.
bility extension can access the information in the data dictionary and data and dynamically build command syntax
programs. The Python programmability extension, intro1 Overview
duced in SPSS 14, replaced the less functional SAX Basic
scripts for most purposes, although SaxBasic remains
SPSS is a widely used program for statistical analy- available. In addition, the Python extension allows SPSS
sis in social science. It is also used by market re- to run any of the statistics in the free software package
searchers, health researchers, survey companies, gov- R. From version 14 onwards, SPSS can be driven exterernment, education researchers, marketing organizations, nally by a Python or a VB.NET program using supplied
data miners,[3] and others. The original SPSS manual plug-ins. (From Version 20 onwards, these two script(Nie, Bent & Hull, 1970) has been described as one of ing facilities, as well as many scripts, are included on the
sociologys most inuential books for allowing ordinary installation media and are normally installed by default.)
researchers to do their own statistical analysis.[4] In adSPSS Statistics places constraints on internal le strucdition to statistical analysis, data management (case seture, data types, data processing, and matching les,
lection, le reshaping, creating derived data) and data
which together considerably simplify programming.
documentation (a metadata dictionary was stored in the
SPSS datasets have a two-dimensional table structure,
datale) are features of the base software.
where the rows typically represent cases (such as individStatistics included in the base software:
uals or households) and the columns represent measurements (such as age, sex, or household income). Only two
Descriptive statistics:
Cross tabulation, data types are dened: numeric and text (or string). All
Frequencies, Descriptives, Explore, Descrip- data processing occurs sequentially case-by-case through
tive Ratio Statistics
the le. Files can be matched one-to-one and one-tomany, but not many-to-many.
Bivariate statistics: Means, t-test, ANOVA,
Correlation (bivariate,
partial,
distances), The graphical user interface has two views which can be
toggled by clicking on one of the two tabs in the botNonparametric tests
tom left of the SPSS Statistics window. The 'Data View'
Prediction for numerical outcomes: Linear regres- shows a spreadsheet view of the cases (rows) and varision
ables (columns). Unlike spreadsheets, the data cells can
Prediction for identifying groups: Factor analysis, only contain numbers or text, and formulas cannot be
cluster analysis (two-step, K-means, hierarchical), stored in these cells. The 'Variable View' displays the
metadata dictionary where each row represents a variDiscriminant
able and shows the variable name, variable label, value
The many features of SPSS Statistics are accessible via label(s), print width, measurement type, and a variety of
pull-down menus or can be programmed with a propri- other characteristics. Cells in both views can be manu1

4 NOTES

ally edited, dening the le structure and allowing data

entry without using command syntax. This may be sucient for small datasets. Larger datasets such as statistical
surveys are more often created in data entry software, or
entered during computer-assisted personal interviewing,
by scanning and using optical character recognition and
optical mark recognition software, or by direct capture
from online questionnaires. These datasets are then read
into SPSS.

Inc. in 1975. Early versions of SPSS Statistics were designed for batch processing on mainframes, including for
example IBM and ICL versions, originally using punched
cards for input. A processing run read a command le of
SPSS commands and either a raw input le of xed format data with a single record type, or a 'getle' of data
saved by a previous run. To save precious computer time
an 'edit' run could be done to check command syntax
without analysing the data. From version 10 (SPSS-X)
SPSS Statistics can read and write data from ASCII text in 1983, data les could contain multiple record types.
les (including hierarchical les), other statistics pack- SPSS Statistics versions 16.0 and later run under Winages, spreadsheets and databases. SPSS Statistics can dows, Mac, and Linux. The graphical user interface is
read and write to external relational database tables via written in Java. The Mac OS version is provided as a
ODBC and SQL.
Universal binary, making it fully compatible with both
Statistical output is to a proprietary le format (*.spv PowerPC and Intel-based Mac hardware.
le, supporting pivot tables) for which, in addition to the
in-package viewer, a stand-alone reader can be downloaded. The proprietary output can be exported to text
or Microsoft Word, PDF, Excel, and other formats. Alternatively, output can be captured as data (using the
OMS command), as text, tab-delimited text, PDF, XLS,
HTML, XML, SPSS dataset or a variety of graphic image
formats (JPEG, PNG, BMP and EMF).

Prior to SPSS 16.0, dierent versions of SPSS were available for Windows, Mac OS X and Unix. The Windows
version was updated more frequently and had more features than the versions for other operating systems.
SPSS Statistics version 13.0 for Mac OS X was not compatible with Intel-based Macintosh computers, due to the
Rosetta emulation software causing errors in calculations.
SPSS Statistics 15.0 for Windows needed a downloadable hotx to be installed in order to be compatible with
Windows Vista.
SPSS Inc announced on July 28, 2009 that it was being acquired by IBM for US$1.2 billion.[5] Because of a dispute
about ownership of the name SPSS, between 2009 and
2010, the product was referred to as PASW (Predictive
Analytics SoftWare).[6] As of January 2010, it became
SPSS: An IBM Company. Complete transfer of business to IBM was done by October 1, 2010. By that date,
SPSS: An IBM Company ceased to exist. IBM SPSS is
now fully integrated into the IBM Corporation, and is one
of the brands under IBM Software Groups Business Analytics Portfolio, together with IBM Algorithmics, IBM
Cognos and IBM OpenPages.

3 See also
The SPSS logo used prior to the renaming in January 2010.

Comparison of statistical packages

SPSS Statistics Server is a version of SPSS Statistics with

a client/server architecture. It had some features not
available in the desktop version, such as scoring functions. (Scoring functions are included in the desktop version from version 19.)

PSPP an open source alternative

Versions and ownership history

The software was released in its rst version in 1968 as

the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) after being developed by Norman H. Nie, Dale H. Bent, and
C. Hadlai Hull. Those principals incorporated as SPSS

JASP - another open source alternative with slightly

other emphasises
SPSS Modeler

4 Notes
[1] IBM SPSS Statistics 23 Documentation.

[2] Quintero, Dino et al. Workload Optimized Systems:

Tuning POWER7 for Analytics. Abstract.
[3] KDnuggets Annual Software Poll: Analytics/Data mining software used?". KDnuggets. May 2013.
[4] Wellman. 1998. pp. 7178.
[5] IBM press release. 2009.
[6] Sachdev, Ameet (September 27, 2009). IBMs $1.2 billion bid for SPSS Inc. helps resolve trademark dispute.
Chicago Tribune.

References
Argyrous, G. Statistics for Research: With a Guide
to SPSS. London: SAGE. ISBN 1-4129-1948-7.
Levesque, R. (2007). SPSS Programming and Data
Management: A Guide for SPSS and SAS Users (4th
ed.). Chicago, Illinois: SPSS Inc. ISBN 1-56827390-8.
SPSS 15.0 Command Syntax Reference. Chicago,
Illinois: SPSS Inc. 2006.
Wellman, B. (1998). Doing It Ourselves: The
SPSS Manual as Sociologys Most Inuential Recent
Book. In Clawson, Dan. Required Reading: Sociologys Most Inuential Books. Amherst: University
of Massachusetts Press. pp. 7178. ISBN 978-155849-153-3.

External links
Ocial website
Raynald Levesques SPSS Tools library of worked
solutions for SPSS programmers (FAQ, command
syntax; macros; scripts; Python)
Archives of SPSSX-L Discussion SPSS Listserv
active since 1996. Discusses programming, statistics and analysis
UCLA ATS Resources to help you learn SPSS Resources for learning SPSS
UCLA ATS Technical Reports Report 1 compares
Stata, SAS, and SPSS against R (R is a language and
environment for statistical computing and graphics).
Using SPSS For Data Analysis SPSS Tutorial from
Harvard
SPSS Community Support for developers of applications using SPSS products, including materials
and examples of the Python and R programmability
features

Biomedical Statistics - An educational website dedicated to statistical evaluation of biomedical data using SPSS software
IBM SPSS online from cloud

7 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

7.1

Text

SPSS Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPSS?oldid=680508694 Contributors: Deb, William Avery, Rickyrab, Dcljr, Jeremymiles,
Ronz, Den fjttrade ankan~enwiki, Palfrey, Dysprosia, Wernher, Shizhao, JorgeGG, Jeq, Robbot, Giftlite, Tom harrison, Chowbok,
Ljhenshall, WhiteDragon, Piotrus, Georgesch4, DanielCD, TedPavlic, John FitzGerald, Jnestorius, Lankiveil, Perfecto, O18, Strangebuttrue, John Vandenberg, Sludge, NickSchweitzer, Landroni, Falsian, Saxifrage, Mdrain, Tabletop, V95micfa, Rjwilmsi, Tizio, FlaBot,
YurikBot, Johndarrington, Aaron Brenneman, Chandler Savage, Semperf, Syrthiss, MFSchar, Zzuuzz, Dr.alf, LeonardoRob0t, JLaTondre, SmackBot, Jtneill, Mattymatt, Kslays, MK8, Not Sure, DHN-bot~enwiki, Themanintheshack, Tsca.bot, Alphathon, Ashawley, TKD,
Stevenmitchell, Cordless Larry, Krexer, Rembrandt, Esrever, Arnoutf, Kashmiri, Hu12, Tawkerbot2, Ponticake, Ioannes Pragensis, Clappingsimon, Gogo Dodo, 410678, Guglielf, Thijs!bot, Bobblehead, Pemboid, Mvanwaveren, Compaqevo, Stannered, Superzohar, Wayiran,
Samunoz1, Bequw, Johnbibby, BatteryIncluded, Padawan ch, Inhumandecency, Gwern, R'n'B, Nono64, Westyjoe, Bellagio99, Laurusnobilis, Pterre, Remember the dot, TinJack, Glossologist, Shortride, AlnoktaBOT, Gnulxusr, Peckjonk, StatsWombat, TXiKiBoT, Perohanych, Rei-bot, Carmen56, Devank, SieBot, RolandUnger, Froztbyte, Masgatotkaca, Free Software Knight, Fratrep, Juliakbird, Denisarona, ImageRemovalBot, Ricklaman, MenoBot, Boing! said Zebedee, Ktr101, Jusdafax, Calimo, Frau K, Qwfp, XLinkBot, WikHead,
MystBot, Addbot, Mabdul, MrOllie, Tomtheeditor, Quercus solaris, Sstolarik, Lightbot, Zorrobot, LuK3, SPSSkid~enwiki, Luckas-bot,
Yobot, Fraggle81, Worm That Turned, Peter Flass, Richigi, AnomieBOT, Rjanag, Materialscientist, Schul253, Xqbot, Fmph, Matttoothman, Programming gecko, GrouchoBot, SassoBot, FrescoBot, D'ohBot, Bwc21, Boxplot, Bob.Muenchen, Banej, Harrietbaulcombe,
Akua07, Trappist the monk, Vrenator, StatisticalSoftware, Akjar13, Wikipelli, La-pays, Wakebrdkid, Senator2029, ClueBot NG, Marion.cuny, John12212010, Masssly, Skrillex-27, Joecool.83, Helpful Pixie Bot, Tholme, Ekostielney, Roundquarter, BG19bot, DBitengIBM, Wajiha nasir19, Jan Spousta, Caayala, Harizotoh9, Oodely, Vanischenu, Grantennis, Illia Connell, Deltahedron, Mogism, Bradhill14, LibaryGeek, Nsajjads, Kokoe.johnson, LI Melissa, Coconnoribm, ScotXW, ClassicOnAStick, , Govindaharihari,
Schulte Duesseldorf, PerfectBike, Malv0isin and Anonymous: 192

7.2

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Original artist: ?
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7.3

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