SPSS: Essential Skills for First-Year University Students

Name: SPSS: Essential Skills for First-Year University Students
Rating: 5.0 (1 reviews)

Learn to run analyses on SPSS, interpret outputs with confidence, and report results in APA style like a pro.

Created byDavid Robinson

Last updated 8/2025

English

What you'll learn

Enter Data Into SPSS
Run Analyses
Interpret Results
Reports Results in APA Style
Process Questionnaire Data
Reverse Coding
Assess Internal Reliability
Create Graphs
Check Assumptions
Independent T-tests
Paired T-Tests
Mann–Whitney U Tests
Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Tests
Chi-Squared Goodness of Fit Tests
Chi-Squared Tests of Independence

Course content

7 sections • 22 lectures • 1h 41m total length

Course Introduction1:04
An overview of the course. See the Resources folder to download the glossary!
Processing Questionnaire Data Introduction2:37
An introduction to the example questionnaire. Download the spreadsheet from the Resources folder to follow along!
Entering Questionnaire Data9:01
We look at how to enter data from a questionnaire into SPSS.
Invalid Responses, Reverse Code, Internal Reliability, Mean & Sum Scores10:28
We look at how to identify and label invalid responses, reverse code items, assess internal reliability, and create mean (i.e., average) and sum (i.e., total) scores.

An Introduction to Independent T-Tests and Entering Data3:09
An introduction to independent t-tests and a demonstration of how to enter the data. Download the spreadsheet from the Resources folder to follow along! You can also find an overview of the analysis in the information sheet in the Resources folder.
Check Assumptions, Run T-test, Create Graph5:07
We look at how to test the normality assumption, run the independent t-test, and create a graph.
Interpret and Report T-Test Results8:57
We look at how to interpret and report the results of the independent t-test. You can find an example results section in the Resources folder!
Run an Independent T-Test

An Introduction to Mann–Whitney U Tests and Entering Data4:06
An introduction to Mann–Whitney U tests and a demonstration of how to enter the data. Download the spreadsheet from the Resources folder to follow along! You can also find an overview of the analysis in the information sheet in the Resources folder.
Run Mann–Whitney U Test and Create a Graph3:30
We look at how to run the analysis and create a graph.
Interpret and Report Mann–Whitney U Test Results4:51
We look at how to interpret and report the results of the Mann–Whitney U test. You can find an example results section in the Resources folder!
Run a Mann–Whitney U Test

An Introduction to Paired T-Tests and Entering Data2:11
An introduction to paired t-tests and a demonstration of how to enter the data. Download the spreadsheet from the Resources folder to follow along! You can also find an overview of the analysis in the information sheet in the Resources folder.
Check Assumptions, Run T-test, Create Graph5:14
We look at how to check the normality assumption, run the analysis, and create a graph.
Interpret and Report Paired T-Test Results5:47
We look at how to interpret and report the results of the paired t-test. You can find an example results section in the Resources folder!
Run a Paired T-Test

An Introduction to Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Tests and Entering Data2:19
An introduction to Wilcoxon signed-rank tests and a demonstration of how to enter the data. Download the spreadsheet from the Resources folder to follow along! You can also find an overview of the analysis in the information sheet in the Resources folder.
Run Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test0:38
We look at how to run the analysis. See the PDF in the Resources folder for guidance on creating a graph.
Interpret and Report Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test Results4:16
We look at how to interpret and report the results of the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. You can find an example results section in the Resources folder!
Run a Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test

An Introduction to Chi-Squared Goodness of Fit Tests and Entering Data5:18
An introduction to chi-squared goodness of fit tests and a demonstration of how to enter the data. Download the spreadsheet from the Resources folder to follow along! You can also find an overview of the analysis in the information sheet in the Resources folder.
Run Chi-Squared Goodness of Fit Test and Make a Graph4:28
We look at how to run the analysis and create a graph.
Check Assumptions and Interpret and Report Chi-Squared Test Results4:01
We look at how to interpret and report the results of the chi-squared goodness of fit test. You can find an example results section in the Resources folder!
Run a Chi-Squared Goodness of Fit Test

An Introduction to Chi-Squared Tests of Independence and Entering Data4:58
An introduction to chi-squared tests of independence and a demonstration of how to enter the data. Download the spreadsheet from the Resources folder to follow along! You can also find an overview of the analysis in the information sheet in the Resources folder.
Run Chi-Squared Test of Independence and Make a Graph1:36
We look at how to run the analysis and create a graph.
Check Assumptions and Interpret and Report Chi-Squared Test Results7:38
We look at how to interpret and report the results of the chi-squared test of independence. You can find an example results section in the Resources folder!
Run a Chi-Squared Test of Independence

Requirements

Students should have access to SPSS. The course videos were created in 2025 with version 30 of SPSS. There are only minor differences between versions, so the course is also suitable for students with other versions released around the same time. The student only needs to have knowledge of basic concepts, such as means, medians, and statistical significance. A free glossary defines all of the terms used in the course.

Description

Drawing on my BSc, MSc, and PhD degrees in psychology and neuroscience and over a decade of experience working with university students, especially those studying social sciences, I designed this course to cover the majority of analyses that students usually encounter in their first year.

The Analyses Covered By the Course

The course covers the following analyses: Independent t-tests, Mann–Whitney U tests, paired t-tests, Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, chi-squared goodness of fit tests, and chi-squared tests of independence. Additionally, the course covers how to process questionnaire data, focusing on entering data, identifying and labelling invalid responses, reverse coding, internal reliability, and creating mean (i.e., average) and sum (i.e., total) scores.

What You’ll Learn

For each of the analyses, you’ll receive clear, step-by-step guidance on when to use them, how to enter the data, how to check assumptions, how to run the test, how to create a graph, how to interpret the results, and how to report the results in APA style. With this knowledge, you’ll be a step ahead of your university peers!

Resources

Each section of the course focuses on a different analysis and comes with a range of valuable resources, including the data files used in the videos, information sheets with key details about the analyses (e.g., when to use them, example hypotheses, assumptions), and example APA results sections. You’ll also receive a glossary explaining all the terms used in the videos.

Assignments

Each section comes with an additional data set (not used in the videos) that you can use to practice running the analysis and reporting the results. If you choose to complete the assignments, you can download example results sections based on these data sets to assess whether you ran the test correctly and how accurately you reported the results.

Who this course is for:

First-year university students, especially those studying social science subjects (e.g., psychology), who need to use SPSS for their research methods classes.

SPSS: Essential Skills for First-Year University Students

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Processing Questionnaire Data4 lectures • 23min

Independent T-Tests3 lectures • 17min

Mann–Whitney U Tests3 lectures • 12min

Paired T-Tests3 lectures • 13min

Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Tests3 lectures • 7min

Chi-Squared Goodness of Fit Tests3 lectures • 14min

Chi-Squared Tests of Independence3 lectures • 14min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: