Why SPSS is riduculous
SPSS has once again bemused me, panicked me and reminded me why I don't do quantitative anymore!!
So there I was quite happily developing my data set for a piece of research I'm doing. I finished it, smiled, and pressed save. Low and behold, SPSS did not like this. Instead it shouted at me... "ERROR, ERROR!! You CANNOT possibly save this file" (not exact quote, but near enough).
Well, thanks for that SPSS, but why can't I save my file?
After doing some investigating on the t'internet, i find that well maybe I can get my answer in an output screen. I check. It turned out SPSS just didn't like that I called one of my variables "Q7b". It didn't take offence with Q7a, or even Q17b. Just Q7b. I'm not really sure what Q7b must have done to offend my dear friend SPSS, but it must have been bad. Anyway, I changed the variable name, and it let me save.
SPSS is officially ridiculous!
To make matters even worse, I have officially run out of ready salted crisps and am now being forced to eat cheese and onion. Hmph!
How dare you offend SPSS! We've had many a good time together and a jolly old laugh. I'll never forget the first time we did our first T-test together and I couldn't find it because of the counter-intuitive submenu. Oh, and then there was the time we entered my data together for a multiple regression, but it had to be done in a really stupid way - we were at it all night long and I was knackered the next day. Sadly, like many professional relationships that become personal, I ended up recognising SPSS for what it was - a time waster. It moved out into my recycle bin, I moved on and I've been with Sigmastat ever since. Of course, me and Sigmastat have out ups and downs but there is an excellent help centre that helps us resolve our differences.
======= Date Modified 31 Mar 2010 09:04:21 =======
============= Edited by a Moderator =============
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Oh my god, it's the SPSS output window!
Me and SPSS have somewhat of a love affair - then again, it is the only package my department is willing to pay for us :p
For some reason, we only have a 10 year old version of GraphPad which crashes whenever you try to open a file. Therefore, the choice is SPSS - powerful (overly so for my work) or Excel. Sadly, as I'm not about to start learning a whole complex programme just to use some of its "easier" features, I have to use Excel. :-(
it won't let me Ctrl C and Ctrl V from word to SPSS :-( but it will let me right click to copy/paste - stupid program.
Yes, I think SPSS makes it very difficult to handle data. Completely unnecessary. You could try StatsDirect. Very cheap software (you pay for a three year licence) and very easy to use, as it is based on a spreadsheet. In fact, it is possible to copy and paste data between Excel and StatsDirect. Also, for those who are not well-versed in statistics, there is an inexpensive book called Statistical Testing in Practice with StatsDirect, which teaches basic statistics (and some more complex stuff as well), using StatsDirect.
Although if you must use SPSS, there is also SPSS Step by Step, which guides you through. That was written by Cole Davis, obviously over the SPSS hatred: www.coledavis.org
