"There can be no doubt that book like this is needed. The idea that the author has to provide information beyond the SPSS tutorials is invaluable. Great conversational style and good examples! I like the idea of inputting data and working through the procedures in real life. The exercises are great practice for learning and sharpening the skills described."
--Geni Cowan, Educational Administration, California State University, Sacramento
--Geni Cowan,
Written in an easy-to-read, straightforward manner, Next Steps With SPSS introduces readers to intermediate and advanced SPSS skills. These skills are introduced and illustrated with sample programs designed to apply powerful techniques in data handling and analysis, with the output from these programs presented and interpreted. The book is organized so that it builds increasingly advanced syntax coding skills, starting with the handling of complex data files and then moving to coverage of looping and macro skills. The book then switches to more windows-oriented skills suitable for working with SPSS output (as in pivot tables and interactive graphics) and for running SPSS in an alternative mode (as in a production facility). The book returns to coding skills by introducing the more advanced topics of the scripting facility (which has broad application to handling data and creating output) and the matrix command language. Throughout the book, Einspruch provides pedagogical aids for the reader, such as:
- Detailed examples provide step-by-step illustrations of each step in a procedure
- End-of-chapter exercises (with solutions provided in the Appendix)
- Boldface text indicates operations or choices that the reader will need to make when running SPSS
- Opening chapter "alerts" give readers a quick synopsis of what they will learn as well as the recommended SPSS skill level
- Chapter glossaries provide readers with a list and definition of command words covered in the chapter
After reading this book, readers will be able to perform: looping functions that can be used to repeatedly perform a set of commands; the macro facility that efficiently performs complex and repetitive tasks; pivot tables that can be manipulated to display results in different ways; interactive graphics can be used to modify charts without re-running an entire procedure; the production facility that can run routine, time consuming analyses unattended; and, the matrix command language which handles matrix algebra computations and allows you to write statistical routines.
"I am very positive about the topics covered. A quality reference book covering these topics in a clear and concise manner would be of considerable value. Specialized syntax files are of special interest to me, as was the chapter on production facilities. The sequencing of the chapters is logical and begins with the familiar (data files) and proceeds through to more complex issues."
--David Holman, Education, Arkansas State University
--David Holman,
Einspruch, Eric L.: -
Eric L. Einspruch is a Senior Research Associate and Project Director at RMC Research Corporation in Portland, Oregon. He received his B.A. with an emphasis in human ecology from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington and his M.S.Ed. in counseling psychology and his Ph.D. in educational research and evaluation from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. Much of his experience with large-scale data analysis was acquired while working in the Office of Institutional Research at Miami-Dade Community College. He has taught courses in statistical methods and in computer applications in educational research. He is currently involved in the evaluation of school-based and community-based social service programs. His publications have appeared in the Florida Journal of Educational Research, International Journal of Early Childhood, Journal of Counseling Psychology, Journal of Drug Education, Journal of Primary Prevention, Psychotherapy in Private Practice, and Reaching Today's Youth. He is active in the Oregon Program Evaluators Network, a local affiliate of the American Evaluation Association, serving as charter Secretary in 1999 and 2000 and as President in 2003.
