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SPSS - Simple, Easy to Use but Powerful
Updated January 09, 2018

SPSS - Simple, Easy to Use but Powerful

Angela Falisi, MPH | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Modules Used

  • IBM SPSS Statistics

Overall Satisfaction with IBM SPSS

At my current and previous organizations, SPSS was used primarily for data analysis, typically for small to medium sized data sets. From what I know, SPSS is one of several statistical software packages used at my current and previous organizations.
  • Very user friendly - the point and click interface of SPSS allows users to complete their activities simply and efficiently. Unlike other statistical programs, SPSS doesn't require knowledge of specific code.
  • Very easy to pull in data from multiple sources or enter in data manually.
  • Clean, simple format and it's clear where to go when you to view data and where to go to view the variables and their labels.
  • Limitations with incorporating weights (when using data from nationally representative samples).
  • From what I understand, SPSS doesn't handle large amounts of data particularly well.
  • I find it more useful as an analysis tool than a data management and cleaning tool.
  • For research purposes - SPSS is a streamlined, easy to use analysis software.
  • Allows analyses to be conducted in an effective and efficient manner.
  • Saves time and resources needed to learn and train staff on coding for specific platforms (like R or SAS).
  • SAS, Excel and JMP
I find SPSS much more user friendly, with a cleaner and easier to use interface.
Similar to Excel in terms of interface, but has many more statistical capabilities.
Compared to SAS, SPSS is much easier to learn but isn't able to manage/clean/transform data as effectively.
Each has their own attributes, but I find SPSS very smooth and simple.

From my experience, SPSS is particularly well suited for the analysis of small to medium sized data sets. Also, it is particularly useful for individuals with a good understanding of statistics and the tests that they want to run on their data, but aren't familiar with coding formats (like R or SAS).

I don't find SPSS to be as well suited for managing larger or more complex (weights) data sets.

Using IBM SPSS

25 - They primarily conduct data analysis on primary and secondary data sets, including large national data sets. SPSS is also used to analyze administrative organizational data.
  • Administrative outputs
  • Analysis of national datasets
  • Analysis of primary data (experimental)