Date:         Thu, 3 Mar 2005 09:43:34 -0500
Reply-To:     Mark A Davenport MADAVENP <M_Davenport@UNCG.EDU>
Sender:       "SPSSX(r) Discussion" <SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Mark A Davenport MADAVENP <M_Davenport@UNCG.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Current college student-New user
In-Reply-To:  <4226FCEF.5090207@verizon.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

To add to Art's insightful comments, keep in mind that all statistical
software products have the potential to make you appear to be a math whiz.
 However, no software can make you a competent statistical problem solver.
 As Art said, there is a vital human component that no software product
can replace; careful planning and good decision-making.  Be less concerned
about learing new software.  If you can use Word, you can use SPSS.  Put
good effort into being a consciencious student of statistics as no
software will check to see you have, for instance, satisfied the
assumption of independence, properly sampled your data, properly
transformed your data, etc.  I think many students get into the mindset
that if SPSS, Stata, SAS, etc. spits out a result, that result must be
correct.  That isn't so. Software can make you a very lazy researcher.

Buy a good beginners book that has a data disc and plenty of examples and
play with those examples.  If you get the same results that are shown in
the examples, then you are using the software correctly.  Also consistent
with Art, I ask my students to quickly get out of the habit of using the
menus to run data.  Paste your commands before you run them. Print the
syntax and staple it to your printed output.  Examine the two together.
Know that there are many command features available via SPSS syntax that
do not appear in the menu boxes.  Learn to use the Syntax guide that comes
with the CD.

I found that Norusis' manuals were very helpful when I was a student.  She
is writing them again.  Look for them.

Have fun!

Mark

***************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Mark A. Davenport Ph.D.
Asst. to the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
Office of Student Affairs Research and Evaluation
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
336.334.5582
M_Davenport@uncg.edu

'An approximate answer to the right question is worth a good deal more
than an exact answer to an approximate question.' -- J. W. Tukey






Art Kendall <Arthur.Kendall@VERIZON.NET>
Sent by: "SPSSX(r) Discussion" <SPSSX-L@VM.MARIST.EDU>
03/03/2005 07:02 AM
Please respond to
Art@DrKendall.org


To
SPSSX-L@VM.MARIST.EDU
cc

Subject
Re: Current college student-New user






Some background to help put my advice in context.
I recently retired as Sr Math Statistician from the US General Accounting
Office
 I am also a Fellow of the American Psychological Association.  I consider
human factors
(including user friendliness) to be of major importance. In 30+ years of
stat/methods consulting I have used many stat packages on many platforms
and
supervised many people in their use.

In general I find that people have the least difficulty and get the least
frustrated using SPSS.  It is a rather complete tool kit. But you just
start with the basics, just like a language.

SPSS is very straightforward, consistent, and pays a lot of attention to
human factors.
I have had many clients/students who were non-traditional students.  The
biggest problem was anticipation.  Many many people say that it was much
easier than they anticipated.

Do things as soon as possible, procrastination will only increase
anxiety.  Once you have access to spss,  I suggest that you use the
tutorials, and become very familiar with the other options under the
help tab.

Use the GUI only for the first draft of the syntax.  Always exit menus
via <paste>.   Familiarize yourself with the syntax button (looks like a
snippet from an outline).

This list and its archives can be a very valuable resource.

an outstanding resource is Raynald's page with tips, etc.
Raynald's SPSS Tools <http://www.spsstools.net/>



Hope this helps.

Art
Art@DrKendall.org
Social Research Consultants
University Park, MD  USA
(301) 864-5570



Karen wrote:

>Hello, I would like some advice as I have a class in
>college teaching SPSS. I haven't taken statistics for
>over 13 years. Am I going to be able to do this? It is
>a required course before I move on to higher business
>classes. I am a returning" non Traditional" student
>and I am scared silly. Any advice would be great.
>Thanks so much! Karen Ticks  WI, USA
>
>__________________________________________________
>Do You Yahoo!?
>Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
>http://mail.yahoo.com
>
>
>
>