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If anyone has any question on the SPSS labs, then please detail them here and we will check it every few days and will provide answers!

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I am stuck - what is an ordinal variable?

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I am stuck - what is an ordinal variable?

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An ordinal variable is a measure which is grouped with the groups being related by magnitude. For example - reported health is an ordinal variable as it can be grouped into very bad, bad, ok, good, very good, with very good being qualitatively better than very bad.

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I don't get why we need to do stats - i am a historian!

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I don't get why we need to do stats - i am a historian!

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Historians often use secondary sources in their work, sources which themselves may have drawn upon statistical research. Take for example an economic historian who may look at the progress of a countries average income. A knowledge of stats will give the historian the critical skills needed to work out what the statistics actually show, rather than a simple figure that may suggest more than it actually means.

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Why we need to do stats - a response from Emmanuelle

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Why we need to do stats - a response from Emmanuelle

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I agree with James.  Another example: health historians have to use existing stats about health outcomes, class, or even changing percentages of government spending in health care, proportion of people who use or are excluded from health care coverage, etc.... Seebohm Rowntree's book was an early example of survey research with new statistical techniques.  It's good to be able to know what the figures mean. Another reason: All graduates have to study research methods and that includes stats.  As I explained in last week's lecture, we are awash with numbers and thus for our own enlightenment we need to be equipped with the skills to question and interpret these numbers.  So think about your personal development as well
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Hi, in my notes from the lab last week I have said that age group would be an ordinal variable ("ordered into groups relating to each other e.g. a hierarchy such as age group"), but in the Bryman book (p336) it states age as an interval variable. Can someone please explain? Thanks

Reply: That is a good question. In the data file that we have been working with in labs, age was collected as age group, rather than simply age. This might mean that answers are 16-24 25-30 etc, rather than simply a single number denoting years of age. Grouped age is ordinal because age is grouped. Bryman's example is interval because age is not grouped. The use of interval variables allows someone to identify difference between two figures. 29 years is 8 years older than 21 years. But the same difference could not be identified from the two answers 16-24 and 25-30, because the specific years of age is not available. Does this make sense?

Reply: Thank you, this makes sense now. When Bryman says that interval variables need to be grouped to be presented in a frequency table format I take it that means the data then becomes ordinal?

Reply: This would depend on how you would want to present the data. There are two options here. First, you could create age groupings which would then make the variable ordinal. Second, you could present age as a scale variable with youngest and oldest ages as the two poles. So it might be your data set has respondents aged between 16 and 87 - as a scale variable this would produce a very long frequency table with data on every year of age in between, even if no one was, for example, 26 years old. Most of the time option 1 would be more appropriate, recoding the interval into an ordinal variable.

Reply: Ok I understand this now, thanks for your help!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bapuGcjwiLQ

This clip shows you how to create variables and enter data into SPSS but from 5 minutes or thereabouts it shows you how to draw a frequency (gender), and how to interpret the input (ie what bits to look at). From 9 minutes onwards it looks at other ways of getting descriptive stats using a height variable.  Whilst we haven't covered these other features, keep watching because it's a good way to show the link between variable type and what measure of central tendency to use (in this instance interval variable and the mean)

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I can not get SPSS to work on my laptop, when downloaded it is saying there are faults etc. stressed and confused!!!!

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I can not get SPSS to work on my laptop, when downloaded it is saying there are faults etc. stressed and confused!!!!

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Did you download the software from this page?

https://servicedesk.gcu.ac.uk/software/

You should be able to download the software from there and also the license keys that allow off campus use.

If you still have difficulties then I'd refer to the revision guide on GCU learn - the lab test is a few weeks off so should get a chance to put your knowledge into practice before then.

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I have just installed SPSS 23 on my macbook. It took a while but it worked.

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When opening f1504_1505_mcz_teaching_ukda_data_dictionary.rtf what should the file look like when opened? On my laptop it is opening as a word doc.

Reply: Yes, it should just open in Word. This file just tells us information on each of the variables that you see in the health and wellbeing data file.

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Spss won't download on my laptop, I have tried everything from uninstalling it to reinstalling, even following the steps suggested but it wont work, help please.

Reply: What is the problem specifically? It might be useful to speak to IT about it and hopefully they can help with installation.

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Personally I struggle with numbers as a whole, not just SPSS and could benefit from some extra learning resources. Is there any books (asides from the Bryman book) or any other resources you could recommend? I have used all that's available so far and still feeling quite lost. Thank you!

Reply: Have you taken a look at the revision guide? Everything that is covered on the lab test is presented in there. If you are looking for a book that tries to de-numericise stats then i would recommend 'An Adventure in Statistics' by Andy Field. The book tries to present stats knowledge in story form - so might be a useful alternative. It's a new book so not in the library yet, but you might be able to get it at another Glasgow based university library.

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Good luck with your test this week!
Emmanuelle

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What is the minimum scoring for passing the test, just in case i encounter any difficulties, and should on the off chance the test is failed, is there an opportunity to sit it again?

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What is the minimum scoring for passing the test, just in case i encounter any difficulties, and should on the off chance the test is failed, is there an opportunity to sit it again?

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40% but remember that you also need to achieve 40% overall.  there is always an opportunity to resit any assignment that counts towards your module mark.

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40% but remember that you also need to achieve 40% overall.  there is always an opportunity to resit any assignment that counts towards your module mark.

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Last year nobody failed.

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What is the difference between income and grouped income?

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What is the difference between income and grouped income?

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So an income might simply by a number, for example £15000 - whilst the same person answering a grouped income answer would select the category £15000-£20000.

Income would be a single number (interval) - grouped income a category (ordinal)

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What is the point of recoding?

JB: Recording a variable can allow us to simplify or group numerical data. For example if we have a scale variable with answers between 0-10, we can recode these variables into 0-3 (low), 4-6 (medium) 7-10 (high) - transforming this variable into an ordinal. This allows us to run different types of statistical analyses, which may be more appropriate in answering a particular hypothesis.

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Is there anyway that you can tell me which of the three variables dichotomous variables would come under. Apologies, its just that the book has confused me. 

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Is there anyway that you can tell me which of the three variables dichotomous variables would come under. Apologies, its just that the book has confused me. 

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ETNo need to apologise.  Dichotomous means there are two values (yes/no, white/non-white, in work/not in work).  In Social Sciences we have comparatively few of these - think about gender. Until 10 years ago, it was always a dichotomous variable (man/woman) but now with the recognition that gender is more fluid and complex it mostly no longer is, perhaps except in epidemiology!.  So is a dichotomous variable nominal, ordinal/scale or interval? Here I must ask you to think for yourselves e.g. How much potential for rank ordering is there?  Do the values have some sort of arithmetic significance (higher/lower, more/less, bigger/smaller) or are they simply symbols for something social (men/women, etc….).

What matters is what the numbers and values mean.

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Variable type: interval or scale or ordinal?

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Variable type: interval or scale or ordinal?

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Is income scale or interval:

If people are asked to provide their raw income ( ie £12500), then it’s an interval variable.  If they are asked to choose an income group ( £10k-£19,999), then it’s more like an ordinal or scale variable.  A scale variable does not quite have the property of an interval variable because it doesn’t have a zero and the numbers have no mathematical/arithmetic properties other than showing scale ordering (lower to higher, ie satisfaction with income, choose a number from low to high).  What we want from you at this stage is that you understand the difference between all the different variables.  It will be clear in the way the variable types are phrased, which is which (grouped income, as opposed to income, that sort of thing).

Read the

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Measure of central tendency: mean or median?

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Measure of central tendency: mean or median?

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Have a look at the revision guide, we're recapping the potential options for each variable type and then giving you the pragmatic options.

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What is the best measure of central tendency for scale?

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What is the best measure of central tendency for scale?

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Some say scale and some say mean?

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Q. does my laptop need a minimum software requirement to work?  I have a basic laptop that may struggle if I need flash player or something to answer the questions.  I can sort out an alternative if needed.  I am just worried I try to start the online test and then I can't complete it due to inadequate software.

Thanks,

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Please everybody, do read the lab test revision guide.  All questions answered there and a handy table to learn by heart!

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Please everybody, do read the lab test revision guide.  All questions answered there and a handy table to learn by heart!

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The test is delivered through GCULearn and does not require you to use SPSS.  As long as your computer can access GCULearn, you're fine.