Features and Limitations of SPSS
Published: 2019-05-28 22:43:33

SPSS stands for the programming language, a statistical package for Social Sciences. It was invented by Norman H. Nie, who was an American social scientist. He invented SPSS along with other two young computer scientists in an attempt to organize his <a href="https://www.solidessay.com/our-services/how-to-write-a-dissertation">dissertation</a> data. He collected that data from seven different nations which included thousands of individual responses to the survey questionnaires, which he wanted to analyze. The first version of SPSS was released in 1968. From then onwards it’s been widely used by social sciences for analysis of data, data mining, data management, statistical analysis and survey authoring and deployment. SPSS basically emphasized its programming language but became ‘pull down’ as Windows was introduced. Previously it was used in DOS.

<h2>Features of SPSS</h2>

The main features of this language include its data management capabilities. It can do detailed labeling of variables and data values along with documentation of data sets, storage and documentation of data in system files. It provides flexible definitions of missing data codes. It can do permanent and temporary transformation, computation of existing and new variables along with conditional and looping structures for complex data. It has an ability to read raw data in variety of formats such as numeric, alpha numeric, binary, dollars, date and time formats. It can read hierarchical and non-rectangular raw data files. It can do reading, combining and outputting multiple files. It can read matrices for input procedures. It can simply flip commands to switch the rows and columns in data sets. One can build one’s own block of SPSS syntax elements and can practice in the execution of those blocks. It has an ability to read and write compressed files. Beside these capabilities there are also SPSS add-on modules available in the market. These add-ons can formulate tables for simple or complex tabulation for presentation.

They have categories for doing conjoint analysis and optimal scaling. The trends in these modules include time series plots, plots of auto correlation, partial auto correlation, cross correlation, smoothing, seasonal regression, Box-Jenkins method, spectra methods and forecasting. It has a wide range of procedures for statistical analysis such as frequencies, correlations, ANOVA, regression etc.

According to Peter Johnston, Senior Programmer at <a href="https://www.confidentwriters.com/">Confident Writers</a>, any of the features of SPSS can be reached through the pull down menus or can be programmed in the program through 4GL command syntax language. The benefits of command syntax are that it has reproducibility. It enables one to define several characteristics for each of the variables. It simplifies the repetitive tasks and makes it easy to handle complex manipulative data analysis. In addition to these, it can program some complex applications, which cannot be accessed through the menu structure. The command syntax can also be generated in the pull down menu or can be pasted in the syntax by using the paste button in each menu.
 
Production Job Facility enables the user to run programs interactively or unattended. It can make use of Macro language to write command language subroutines and a Python programmability extension. This ability of the program can help access the information available in data and data dictionary, which in turn helps build up a command syntax program. The basic elements in SPSS syntax program include defining of data and procedure section.

<h2>Limitations of SPSS</h2>

Despite its advantages, there are some limitations to SPSS program. There are internal limitations on file structures, data types, data processing and files matching. They altogether simplify the program into two-dimensional table structure. The rows are typical to represent cases (individuals or families) and measurements are represented by the columns (age, sex, or income). It can define only two data types: numeric and text. The processing of data is sequential through files case-by-case. One to one and one to many matching of the files can be done but it does not support many to many files matching. The two data interfaces are available: data view and variable view. Both of these views cannot be seen simultaneously. They are required to be toggled by clicking on the tabs in SPSS program. This makes it suitable for small data sets. The larger data sets need to be scanned or captured directly from online questionnaires and then transferred and read by SPSS.

The thing, which makes SPSS different from other programs is its user friendly and easy to use ability. It makes organizing data very simple and there is hardly anything one can forget while entering data on SPSS. When all the data entering and defining of variables is done on SPSS, one can easily run the desired statistical analysis by simply selecting it from the menu, selecting appropriate variables and then clicking the OK button. SPSS does all the data reading and analysis and the output is presented. It can be instructed to draw graphs and charts depending on the requirements of the study.

SPSS is a simple and easy to use tool for predictive analysis. It has an ability of multi-tasking. There are four interfaces available in the program: graphical user interface, syntax, python and script, which can be used according to one’s preference. All the statistical analysis is readily available in the program making it easier to run a statistical analysis without much hassle. Its outstanding data presentation and analysis capabilities can be of great help in predicting with confidence what will happen next. This can help make smart decisions, solve problems and improve the outcomes.