=========================================================================
Date:         Tue, 18 Jul 2006 07:43:21 +1000
Reply-To:     Simon Freidin <simonpf@unimelb.edu.au>
Sender:       "SPSSX(r) Discussion" <SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Simon Freidin <simonpf@unimelb.edu.au>
Subject:      Re: SV: For those in need of running SAS using an SPSS file
In-Reply-To:  <s4bbb233.038@postman.pgahq.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; delsp=yes; format=flowed

For a comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of SAS, SPSS and
STATA see the UCLA report

http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/technicalreports/Number1/
ucla_ATSstat_tr1_1.0.pdf

cheers
Simon

On 18/07/2006, at 5:52 AM, Joseph Teitelman temp2 wrote:

> That's an obnoxious question;  I used SAS as a student first in a
> sociology Ph.D. program and then in a statistics graduate program.
> As a graduate student studying statistics, I was able to obtain SAS
> free of charge, and have continued to use the licensed SAS program
> since completing my statistics degree.
>
> It is true that my employer is not licensing SAS; rather my
> employer is licensing SPSS only.
>
> And if you must know, the vast majority of statistics graduate
> programs prefer SAS to SPSS.  In fact, they tend to support SAS,
> SPLUS, and Stata, but tend not to support SPSS.
>
> The question is what does this fact say about SPSS when compared to
> SAS, S-PLUS, and Stata.
>
> Typically SPSS is used in graduate level social science courses, such
> as sociology.
>
> Given the above, what can you conclude about SPSS?
>
> joe teitelman
>
>
>
>>>> Jason Burke <burke.jasonm@gmail.com> 7/14/2006 7:46 PM >>>
> If your employer forces you to use SPSS, who pays the SAS license fees
> every year?
>
>
> On 7/15/06, Oliver, Richard <roliver@spss.com> wrote:
>> The SPSS facility for writing SAS-format data files includes the
>> ability to write value labels to a SAS formats file. This has been
>> true for quite a few years (it's not new in SPSS 14).
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
>> Behalf Of Staffan Lindberg
>> Sent: Friday, July 14, 2006 12:44 PM
>> To: SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: SV: For those in need of running SAS using an SPSS file
>>
>> Hi!
>>
>> Being in a somewhat similar situation (although a SPSS user) I
>> often find myself having to convert SPSS-files to SAS datasets for
>> SAS-people. The easiest solution (at least for me) is to use a
>> conversion program. I use DBMSCOPY but there are others
>> (StatTransfer among others). With DMBSCOPY I can even convert SPSS
>> Value Labels to SAS Formats. This is accomplished by DMBSCOPY
>> generating a SAS program that you can run in SAS thus getting the
>> Formats.
>>
>> An even faster way is to to use the ability of SPSS 14 (and
>> perhaps earlier) to write SAS files in different formats (although
>> I don't know if the Value labels are converted).
>>
>> best
>>
>> Staffan Lindberg
>> National Institute of Public Health
>> Sweden
>>
>> -----Ursprungligt meddelande-----
>> Från: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] För
>> Joseph Teitelman temp2
>> Skickat: den 14 juli 2006 18:19
>> Till: SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Ämne: For those in need of running SAS using an SPSS file
>>
>>
>> For the past 2 months, I've been forced to learn how to use SPSS,
>> since my employer uses SPSS solely.
>>
>> For those interested in analyzing data in SAS created as an  SPSS
>> *.sav file, the following steps are required.
>>
>> Note that I discovered this information from the very popular
>> "Little SAS Book."
>>
>> 1) first save your spss file as a portable file * it has the
>> extension por.
>> 2) use the following SAS syntax:
>> a) LIBNAME myspss SPSS 'c:\Myspsslib\spss.por';
>> b) to use the print procedure in SAS type
>>    PROC PRINT DATA = myspss._FIRST_;
>> c) to list the contents of the spss file (the variables and their
>> attributes
>> type: PROC CONTENTS DATA = myspss._FIRST_;
>>
>> d) to convert the spss portable file to a SAS data set, type the
>> following:
>>
>> DATA 'c:\MySASlib\spsspor';
>>  SET myspss._FIRST_;
>>
>>
>> e) the output will contain a list of observations/ records grouped
>> by each variable in the data set.
>>
>> The next procedure * Proc contents will produce the variable #,
>> the variable name, the type of variable (num or char, e.g.),
>> Length of each variable, position of each variable, format of each
>> variable. and label for each variable.
>>
>> Obviously, the information I provided is not intended for those
>> who prefer to use SPSS rather than SAS.  It's for those like me,
>> who were forced to learn SPSS for some reason, such as a job, but
>> would like to analyze the data using SAS.
>>
>> I hope this proves helpful for those of you in the same shoes as
>> myself.
>>
>> I am not advocating the use of SAS over SPSS; rather I am merely
>> showing that for those who prefer SAS over SPSS, it's easy to read
>> an SPSS file using SAS, after saving the SPSS file as a portable
>> document.
>>
>> The portable file will have the extension "por".