Tool · Research methods
SPSS data preparation and analysis
Turn a Google Forms, Microsoft Forms or Excel export into a .sav file SPSS opens cleanly: proper variable names, your questions as labels, Likert answers as numbers, reverse-scored items and checkbox answers split into 0/1 columns. Then run your test here and copy the APA write-up.
1 Load your data
Or paste the data
2 Check each column
Each column has been guessed. Change the name, the type, or the codes where the guess is wrong. Tick Reverse for negatively worded items.
Blank cells become system-missing in SPSS either way. Give a code (e.g. 99) only if your supervisor asks for one.
| Question (variable label) | SPSS name | Type | Values | Reverse |
|---|
3 Preview
4 Download
Quickest: download the .sav and open it in SPSS (or PSPP / jamovi / JASP). Names, labels, value labels, missing values, measurement levels and checkbox sets are already inside.
Prefer syntax? Use the CSV + .sps instead
- Save both files in the same folder.
- In SPSS: File > Open > Syntax, open the .sps file.
- Change the file path on the line marked
EDIT THIS LINEto where you saved the .csv. - Run > All. Your data opens with every name, label, code and level set. Then File > Save As a .sav file.
Show the syntax
5 Analyse and write it up
Run a test on the prepared data and get the result in APA 7 style, ready to paste into your results section. Still in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
APA write-up
Check the assumptions your course requires (normality, outliers, independence) before reporting. Every statistic here is tested against SciPy, but your supervisor's preferred test still comes first.
What it fixes
- Long questions as column names: become short valid names, with the question kept as the label.
- "Strongly agree" text: becomes 1-5 (or 1-7) with value labels, from a scale it recognises or one you edit.
- Checkbox questions with several answers in one cell: become one 0/1 column per option, grouped as a multiple-response set.
- Negatively worded items: reversed as (min + max) - score, with their labels flipped to match.
- A byte-order mark, stray spaces and inconsistent capitals in answers.
Good to know
- The syntax needs SPSS 21 or newer (it reads the file as UTF-8, so Urdu and other scripts survive).
- Names follow IBM's rules: up to 64 bytes, starting with a letter, no spaces or reserved words, unique ignoring case.
- Variable labels are cut to 256 bytes and value labels to 120, the SPSS limits.
- Dates are written as yyyy/mm/dd and read with the SDATE10 format. Tell the tool whether your dates are day-first or month-first.