Foreword SPSS, standing for Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, is a powerful, user-friendly software package for the manipulation and statistical analysis of data. The package is particularly useful for students and researchers in psychology, sociology, psychiatry, and other behavioral sciences, containing of both univariate and multivariate procedures much used in these disciplines. However, it is often heard that the students can not handle and work efficiently with this package and the books compiled or translated about this software could not delineate the basic parts of SPSS and the way they operate. The present volume is a solution to this problem. Who is this book for? In general terms, this book is for anyone new to SPSS. No prior knowledge of statistics or mathematics is needed, or even expected. In specific terms, this book was written with two groups in mind: students who are not majoring in mathematics but are instructed to use SPSS, and office workers who are instructed to use SPSS to analyze some data. For most people who generate statistics, the complexity of using the software becomes an obstacle. Our purpose in writing this book was to show you how to move that obstacle out of the way with minimum effort. How the book is organized This book was written so you could read first; the basic parts of the package, to get yourself started with SPSS, and second; jump around to the main parts and programs as needed. SPSS is miscellaneous software, and we don't claim to illuminate everything. However, we do claim that those programs and aspects which are often employed by students have been explained in detail. The book features step-by-step procedures that you can follow to see how SPSS operates. After you use the provided sample data and step through an example, you'll have a handle on how to apply those steps to your data. The parts of the book divide the information about SPSS into its major categories. The chapters in each part further divide the information into smaller subcategories.
