University of Guelph Library

University of Guelph Library tag line "Changing Lives, Improving Life" (JPG 10kb)
Click the plus sign to expand this menu item (GIF 61 bytes)Click the minus sign to collapse this menu item (GIF 61 bytes)Geospatial Data Resources
Click the plus sign to expand this menu item (GIF 61 bytes)Click the minus sign to collapse this menu item (GIF 61 bytes)Help & Learning Resources

University of Guelph Library Ask Us! Service button and link to the initiative (PNG 6kb)

Data Resource Centre section title and link to its homepage (PNG – 11kb)

SPSS Data Entry

Text Size: S M L XL

Go back one page (PNG 4 kb)

Data analyzed in SPSS comes either from manual entry or opening a data file.

Opening a Data File

In addition to files saved in SPSS format, you can open spreadsheet (Excel, Lotus 1-2-3), database (Access, dBASE), tab-delimited files and other types of ASCII text files without converting the files to an intermediate format or entering data definition information.

Steps to Opening a SPSS Data File

  1. Click on File>Open>Data.
  2. To view all files, in the Files of Type drop down menu select the All Files (*.sav) option.
  3. In the "Open File" dialog box, select the file you want to open.
  4. Click Open.

Steps to Opening a Text Data File

Click on Files > Open > Data.

To view all files, in the Files of Type drop down menu select the All Files (*.*) option.

In the "Open File"; dialog box, select the file you want to open.

Click Open.

The Text Import Wizard appears.

Text Import Wizard

In six steps, the text import wizard allows you to define how to read a text data file including tab-delimited, space-delimited, comma-delimited and fixed-field format files. For delimited files, you can also specify other characters as delimiters between values and you can specify multiple delimiters. You will find the detail six-step text import wizard process.

Step 1 — Text Import Wizard (Delimited Files)

Text Import Wizard Step One

Step 2 — Text Import Wizard (Delimited Files)

The Text Wizard needs to determine where the data value for one variable ends and the data value for the next variable begins.

Text Import Wizard Step 2

 
Step 3 — Text Import Wizard (Delimited Files)Text Import Wizard Step 3
Step 4 — Text Import Wizard (Delimited Files)Text Import Wizard Step 4
Step 5 — Text Import Wizard (Delimited Files)Text Import Wizard Step 5
Step 6 — Text Import Wizard (Delimited Files)Text Import Wizard Step 6

Steps to Opening an Excel Data File

  1. Click on Files > Open > Data.
  2. To view all files, in the Files of Type drop down menu select the All Files (*.*) option.
  3. In the ‘Open File’ dialog box, select the file you want to open.
  4. Click Open. The following dialog box appears.

Go back one page (PNG 4 kb)

Top

Data Access

Contact

519–824–4120 ext. 56417

Visit

The DRC is located behind the Research Help desk in the McLaughlin Library.

Check DRC help hours

Last updated March 6th, 2008 by L.C. (details)