In this lab you will work in pairs, but be sure to take turns so that each of you get to try out using the computer.

First of all, log on to the network with your student ID and then double click on "my computer". Click on the Student M-drive and create a folder called "psyc201" (you can also place files in your d2l locker). Exit window.

Open MS Word with a new file that you will save as "sample" (.docx)

Create a table with five columns and five rows and a title above it. Type the variable names at the top of each column (same as below), and then enter some numbers for your selves and the people around you.
 
 

Save this file as a word document called "sample" on your M drive in the folder you just created called psyc201.

Highlight the table (including the variable names) and click on copy, then close this window.
 
 

Open MS Excel with a new workbook that you will call sample.xlsx

Click on the first cell of the table and then paste-the table from your word doc- into this excel worksheet.

Save this worksheet (on M-drive in your psyc201).

Next click "File Save As", and select "csv" and save it again, but rename it as sampleb.xls

 Add another 4 rows of data to this set by asking your neighbours for their data.
 Save, and Close the window.

Open PASW (SPSS) and click on the untitled SPSS Data Editor window (it will look like a blank spread sheet).  If the dialogue window comes up first, click the cancel button.

Click on file_open and then on data .. .

Go to "files of type" field and select "Excel (*.xls, *.xlsx, *.xlsm) from the drop-down menu.

Select your M drive from the "Look in" drop-down menu at the top and then locate the excel files that you created in the psyc201 folder.

First open the file called sample.xlsx (later do the same thing for sampleb.xls). In the Opening Excel Data Source window you will have to ensure that the little box is checked for "read variable names from first row of data" then click OK. You now should have an SPSS file with the information that you first wrote into your word document.

Save this file in your psyc201 folder by going to "File Save" and then typing in a file name of your choice.  [What did you find with the csv file? Anything different from the xlsx file?]

 
  You now should be able to create tables in a word document copy them to excel where you can manipulate the data and save it in different formats. Various versions of SPSS will or will not read excel files directly. In earlier versions of SPSS it is necessary to save any excel file as an Excel 97-2003 Workbook (i.e., *.xls) or earlier in order for SPSS to read it. Excel can be used for number crunching but we will not be looking at it in this course.

Once you have the data file in SPSS format you can perform a wide variety of statistics and you can copy or save-as your output, including tables and graphs back into your word document. This comes in handy when writing up your reports or in publishing research.

Once all of this is done go to d2l and post your spss data file (either one) to the drop box for lab 2.    Also feel free to use the discussion board for Lab 2 to comment on the process with other students.

If you have time, go back and make up other tables and play with the save as options to get a good feel for using these programs.