[nabs-l] SPSS info

Wed Feb 29 20:58:11 UTC 2012

Hi Arielle,

I have been using SPSS 16 for data analysis during the past three
years, and it has served me reasonably well. JAWS does read the list
of variables when I open a dialogue box using the menus, and I can
select the appropriate independent and dependent variables without any
problems. The time lag while moving my cursor between cells, as Cindy
mentioned, is a bit of an annoyance, so like her friend I also prefer
to do a lot of data entry and processing in Excel first before taking
the file into SPSS. My personal license for version 16 is expiring in
a few months though, and I recently got SPSS 19 set up on my work
computer. I haven't done much with the new program yet after
downloading the accessibility patch, but it appears to be working OK
so far.

I really hope that IBM will improve the accessibility in SPSS 20.
While SAS is a great alternative, it does involve learning a different
set of commands and syntax, which I personally found a little
intimidating. Also, most of my colleagues in the Psychology department
use SPSS, so it is easy to find information if I have questions about
how to run particular analyses, especially when additional
macros/scripts are involved.

Katie

On 2/28/12, Arielle Silverman <arielle71 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Cindy,
> When you run analyses in SPSS Version 16 using the menus, does JAWS
> read the list of variables and allow you to select your independent
> variable, dependent variable, etc. from the variable view? When I used
> SPSS 15 (back in 2008) I was able to access the menus but JAWS would
> not read the list of variables so I had to get around it by creating
> an abridged SPSS datafile with just the two or three variables I
> wanted to work with in each separate analysis, which is obviously a
> big pain. Is SPSS 16 better about letting you read the list of
> variables and select one when setting up your analysis?
> BTW, I now use SAS, which is a bazillion times better in terms of
> accessibility. Unfortunately, it's less commonly used and you have to
> learn syntax, or commands you type in. I can send you some commands if
> you are interested and have access to SAS.
> Best,
> Arielle
>
> On 2/28/12, Cindy Bennett <clb5590 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> A while ago, I mentioned that I would receive some training from a
>> grad student I know with JAWS and SPSS. She has been very helpful, and
>> I wanted to share what I have learned so far.
>>
>> Right now, she uses SPSS versions 16 and 19. 19 is the current
>> version, and most schools and research workplaces keep the current
>> version. She had to go through her school to get version 16.
>>
>> She has version 19 on her work desktop. Before she could even use it
>> with JAWS, she had to obtain a fix from Freedom Scientific. This fix
>> actually works. I remember trying one that came out for version 17
>> when I was in undergrad stats, and it didn’t work, but this one does,
>> so that is an improvement.  Before she uses SPSS, she has to close all
>> programs, restart the computer, and only run JAWS and SPSS. She had to
>> add RAM to her computer so that it has 8 gigs which is more than the
>> typical computer has. Apparently, the computer cannot handle running
>> JAWS and SPSS with under that amount of RAM.
>>
>> Even after those accommodations to maximize the productivity of the
>> program, she says that after several analyses, the computer sometimes
>> restarts. That being said, she is working at a professional research
>> firm, so homework assignments for stats classes would definitely not
>> be working with data sets of 31 thousand.
>>
>> The version we practiced on was 16 since it works better with JAWS,
>> and since it is on her work laptop. She is using JAWS 12 and Window’s
>> XP. I do not know if there is a version 16 of SPSS that works with
>> Window’s 7 since it is updated so frequently.
>>
>> When you open SPSS, there are 2 windows, the data view, and the
>> variable view. The variable view is where you label your variables. It
>> is best to do this first. Each row represents a variable like age or
>> gender, and each column represents something about that variable that
>> you can set like how many decimal places to round to, what type of
>> variable it is, etc. this is where you can code for variables. For
>> example, you can specify 1 for males and 2 for females. This way, you
>> could just enter 1 or 2 into the gender column of the data view, and
>> the output table which I will describe later would then code the
>> findings accordingly.
>>
>> Pressing control t toggles between the variable and data views. The
>> data view can be described as a spreadsheet. Each column represents
>> one of the variables you specified in the variable view. The variable
>> you specified in the first row of the variable view is the title of
>> column 1 in the data view. Each row of the data view represents a
>> case, or one subject of the study. Typically, people would enter their
>> data into the data view. However, my friend prefers to save the SPSS
>> file as an Excel file at this point. The reason for this is that JAWS
>> lags when moving among cells, so she can enter data faster in Excel.
>> Also, each time you move down a case in the data view, JAWS specifies
>> the variable name. This would be somewhat tolerable if it simply said
>> the variable such as age or gender, but it says a lot of other
>> syntax-like crap as well which contributes to JAWS lagging. My
>> communications instructor at BLIND, Inc. said that there could be some
>> options in verbosity to eliminate some of what JAWS says, but I
>> haven’t explored this.
>>
>> So, once you save as an Excel file, you can open the Excel file and
>> enter your data. The columns in Excel would correspond to the columns
>> in SPSS, so whatever data corresponds to the variable in row 1 of the
>> variable view should be entered in column A in Excel.
>>
>> At this point, I would close the SPSS file so as not to confuse it
>> with the SPSS file you will make later.
>>
>> Since the purpose of SPSS is the ability to run a variety of data
>> analyses, you have to save the Excel file as an SPSS file once you
>> have entered your data. You can then open the SPSS file. The analyses
>> are found in the menus. Once you run an analysis, an output table will
>> appear, but JAWS will not say anything. So, you have to export it (NOT
>> SAVE AS) to Excel. After doing this, you can then easily read the
>> results of the output table.
>>
>> My friend also prefers to explore data sets by saving them as Excel
>> files because of JAWS lags and because you cannot do searches for data
>> within SPSS.
>>
>> I am also working on Macs at BLIND, Inc., and we downloaded the trial
>> version of SPSS onto one of the MacBooks. I was unable to navigate
>> anything when entering the program, but now that I have a
>> conceptualization of what is supposed to be there, we will try again,
>> and I will let you know if I get anywhere with it.
>>
>> There are a ton of things I can go into about SPSS, but I think that a
>> lot of it can be explored or learned in statistics classes. I think
>> that the important thing is to gain a conceptual idea of SPSS. I had a
>> positive experience since I had run into so many dead ends. Although
>> version 16 is somewhat hard to find in school settings which are
>> constantly updating technology, IBM is doing beta accessibility
>> testing for version 20, and I am supposed to receive more information
>> about that in April. So, maybe that will be better. However, at this
>> point, I would fight for version 16. I know that it can be tedious and
>> that Excel and other free softwares are more accessible and can
>> perform some of the analyses, but SPSS is a really good skill to have.
>> It is the common software for schools and workplaces, and it seems to
>> be more comprehensive than other programs.
>>
>> If you are interested in learning more about the beta testing, you can
>> email lar at us.ibm.com. I have no idea if they are still taking beta
>> testers, and it was about a week before I got a response, so don’t be
>> disconcerted if you don’t get a reply immediately. Other than that, I
>> know nothing about the promised accessibility of future versions or
>> about the beta testing process.
>>
>> If you would like me to explain anything in more detail, just let me
>> know. And, if you have any more knowledge about the program like
>> accessible features I might have left out, please share.
>>
>> --
>> Cindy Bennett
>> B.A. Psychology, UNC Wilmington
>>
>> clb5590 at gmail.com
>> 828.989.5383
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> nabs-l mailing list
>> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> nabs-l:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/arielle71%40gmail.com
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nabs-l mailing list
> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nabs-l:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/bunnykatie6%40gmail.com
>