Stats: Installing SPSS software (June 6, 2003)

Installing SPSS on your computer.

SPSS is a program that will perform a variety of statistical analyses for your research data. The acronym of SPSS was originally Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. The company that produces SPSS, however, has been avoiding the use of the full name because it unfairly limits SPSS to social scientists. The statistical analyses available in SPSS are useful for researchers in almost any area.

We have a new approach for running SPSS software. It uses a Windows product called terminal server (also sometimes called terminal services).

Terminal server offers several advantages:

Because the code runs on a dedicated computer, SPSS and SigmaPlot will load faster and run faster.
You will no longer have to worry about upgrading to new versions of SPSS and SigmaPlot. The upgrades will be handled for you.
If you have an older computer with compatibility problems, you will encounter fewer difficulties with terminal server.

I have written simple directions for installing and running terminal server on your computer. It is very easy, even for someone who is not a computer nerd. If you prefer to have someone else load terminal server for you, please ask your contact person in Information Systems for help.

Once you have installed terminal server, you have full access to SPSS. As new versions of SPSS become available, you will have access to them as well.

I also have information about how to install and remove older versions of SPSS and unusual error messages that you might encounter in SPSS.

What versions of SPSS do we have?

We currently run version 12 of SPSS on Terminal Server. We have a test version of terminal server that runs version 15. In the Fall of 2007, we expect to get version 16 of SPSS, which is a major upgrade.

How can I learn more about SPSS?

I am incorporating elements of SPSS into the short courses that I offer. You can also purchase books or manuals about SPSS. Information can be found at the SPSS web site: http://www.spss.com/books

There is also a site that lists web resources for SPSS: http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/spss/

This webpage was written by Steve Simon on 2002-05-07, edited by Steve Simon, and was last modified on 2008-07-08. Send feedback to ssimon at cmh dot edu or click on the email link at the top of the page.