Activity 8.1
Running a Frequency Distribution in SPSS

At this point, you need to learn how to do a frequency distribution using SPSS, and this activity will show you how to run a frequency distribution and interpret the results. Remember that SPSS has on-screen help if you need it during this exercise.

Open SPSS and open the "HOUSE106depr" file (download / help downloading). Near the top of the screen, in the status bar area, click on "Analyze." When the gray drop-down menu appears under "Analyze," click on "Descriptive Statistics." When the menu appears to the side, click on "Frequencies." You are now looking at a new window titled in the status bar as "Frequencies." The small window to the left is the variable list from the data, organized alphabetically. Scroll through the variables until you find the variable "Party." Click on "Party." Click on the arrow button between boxes to move "Party" into the right-hand box. Click on the "OK" button and wait while SPSS calculates a frequency for this variable.

A new window titled "Output 1-SPSS Viewer" appears; the results of your data analysis are in this window. The first table lets you know if there are any missing values for your variable. In this instance there are not. The second table shows in the left-hand column the possible values of the variable and then, working across from left to right, the frequency (how many cases fall into each value of the variable), the frequency calculated as a percentage, the valid percentage (which will be different from the percentage column if there are any missing values), and the cumulative percentage. Look over the results and write down what number and percentage of House members in the 106th Congress were Republicans, Democrats, or Independents.

At the top of the screen, click on "Analyze" and repeat the above process for the variable "Marital," but before you click on the "OK" button this time, be sure to move the "Party" variable back into the left-hand box, or SPSS will do a frequency distribution for that variable again. You can do a frequency for as many variables in a data set as you want at one time by moving them all into the right-hand box at the same time. SPSS will do a frequency simultaneously for all the variables listed in the right-hand box.

To print your results, click on "file" near the top of the window and when the drop-down menu appears, click on "Print Preview" to see how many pages of output you have. Or simply click on "Print." A window titled "Print" appears. Click on the "OK" button to print. Exit SPSS.