Creating a data set in SPSS
  1. Open your SPSS file.
  2. Click the tab at the bottom of the screen labeled 'Variable View'.
  3. Enter the names of your variables (e.g., beer and br trips) into the column labeled 'Name'.
  4. Check to make sure that the type is correct. 'Beer' and 'BR' are both numeric variables (numeric is the default). If you have string variables (e.g., variables with verbal levels like FR, SO, JR and SR for 'class year'), click on the right edge of the Type box and a menu of choices will appear. Select 'string' from the list of choices.
  5. Enter 0 in the box labeled 'Decimals'; this tells SPSS not to include decimal places. If you're data includes decimal places (e.g., if it's percent data), then you should enter the appropriate value (e.g., 2) in these boxes.
  6. Click the tab on the bottom of the screen labeled 'Data view'.
  7. Enter your data in the appropriate columns. You can do this either by hand, or by cutting and pasting from Excel (if you have already entered the data in Excel. If you are cutting and pasting, just be sure that your variables - and especially your variable types line up appropriately. If you try to paste a string variable into a column labeled as a numeric variable, SPSS will not display your data.