[nabs-l] SPSS info

Thu Mar 1 01:23:38 UTC 2012

Oh, and Katie, I have a question for you. My friend  uses version 16 with xp. Do you know if it works with window's 7?

Cindy

Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 29, 2012, at 2:58 PM, Katie Wang <bunnykatie6 at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
>>> 
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>> 
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