Background | Enter Data | Analyze Data | Interpret Data | Report Data

I. Enter your data into the first column in the data file

1. Enter your data into the first column of the data file.
2. Give the first column of data a meaningful name by double clicking on the top of the column. Fill in the ‘variable name’ in the Define Variable box and Click OK. 
3. Save the data file to a meaningful place with a meaningful name. This file should have a .sav extension.

II. Analyze your data

1. Click Analyze, Descriptive Statistics and then Frequencies. A Frequencies box will appear.
2. Move your variable to the Variable box by clicking on it to highlight it and clicking on the arrow button.
3. Click the Statistics Button. A Frequencies: Statistics box will appear.
4. Check the statistics you want to compute by clicking in the corresponding boxes. Check things like the Mean, Median, Mode, Std. Deviation, Variance and Range. 
5. Click Continue. This will take you back to the Frequencies box. Click OK in this box and wait a few seconds for processing. The output will appear.
6. Save the output to a meaningful place with a meaningful name. SPSS should give the output file a .spo extension.

III. Interpret your results

1. Look in the Statistics box for condition mean (Mean), standard deviation (Std. Deviation), number of participants (N) and more.
2. Make sure the number of participants (N) for each condition is accurate. If it is not, go back to the data file and make sure it is correct.

IV. Report your results

1. Report the type of tests used and what they were used to test.
2. Report the values for the mean, standard deviation and number of participants. 
3. Report your results in words that people can understand.