How to make SPSS produce all tables in APA format automatically!

Formatting a graph that was exported from SPSS to Microsoft Word can be an absolute pain. Since neither program is known for it's simplicity or "user-friendliness", the interaction between the two can be predictably tedious and frustrating. The process of converting a standard SPSS table to APA format might be bearable, when you are talking about a single table, but can become overwhelming when you have an entire manuscript worth of tables. Fortunately, a few minor alterations to your SPSS settings can make SPSS do most of the heavily lifting for you, making SPSS automatically produce tables that closely resemble APA format and cutting down your formatting time by as much as 90%!

Stats Make Me Cry Blog EntriesJeremy J. TaylorJuly 15, 2014APA, how-to, SPSS, tutorial Comments

Literate Statistical Programming with knitr - Creating Reproducible Analysis in R

This video was created by Dr. Roger Peng, professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and author at Simply Statistics. Dr. Peng is not affiliated with Stats Make Me Cry in any way and written consent was obtained before this video was posted.

R Tutorial VideosJeremy J. TaylorFebruary 11, 2014R.app, tutorial, reproducible research, knitr, html, videos, how-to Comment

How to Create APA Style Graphs and Then Teach SPSS to Do it Automatically!

In the strictest sense, APA style discourages the use of color in graphics, stipulating that it be used only when it is "absolutely necessary". Consequently, most universities and dissertation committees also discourage (or downright forbid) the use of color graphics in dissertation manuscripts. Personally, i find this irritating, as I think most graphical representations of data can be made more clear with the appropriate use of color. However, I suppose the guideline is meant to provide uniformity and consistency across manuscripts, which is understandable.

Unfortunately, if you use SPSS you've probably already discovered that it produces graphics in color by default. Not to worry, your graphs can be changed easily. Better yet, you can make simple adjustments to your SPSS settings that will force the program to create APA-compliant (i.e. black & white) graphics in all output! Here is how you do it...

Stats Make Me Cry Blog EntriesJeremy J. TaylorDecember 18, 2012APA, SPSS, graphs, how-to Comments

Wonderful "How-To" Resources for Learning Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with AMOS

Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a complex beast, and can be quite intimidating to someone trying to learn the basics. Fortunately, there are some great resources out there for learning! Unfortunately, I think a lot of beginners don't know what those great resources are, or where to find them.

Stats Make Me Cry Blog EntriesJeremy J. TaylorDecember 3, 2012how-to, sem Comments

How to Conduct a Repeated Measures MANCOVA in SPSS

In today's blog entry, I will walk through the basics of conducting a repeated-measures MANCOVA in SPSS. I will focus on the most basic steps of conducting this analysis (I will not address some complex side issues, such as assumptions, power…etc). If you find yourself with lingering questions after walking through this blog, feel free to leave questions in the "comments" section, or visit the MANCOVA section of my discussion forum to find answers and/or ask questions of your own. Full disclosure: the example data used is from the SPSS sample/help files, and it can be downloaded below...

Basics of Working With Data in R

This video tutorial demonstrates how to perform some basic manipulations of data in R, including how to: view data, edit data, create subsets of data, remove variables from data, and create new variables in data

R Tutorial VideosJeremy J. TaylorApril 5, 2012R.app, stats, stitistics, tutorial, videos, how-toComment

How to Import SPSS Data into R

This video tutorial demonstrates how to import data into R that is currently in SPSS format. The video also shows how to do use a few basic commands on datasets, once they are imported into R. The steps in this video apply whether you are using a Mac or a PC/Windows machine.

R Tutorial VideosJeremy J. TaylorMarch 7, 2012R.app, spss, tutorial, videos, how-toComment

How to Install R for Windows and Use a Few Basic Functions

This video shows how to obtain and install R on the Windows (PC) platform. It also shows a few basic functions in R, such as how to install packages in R and load them for use.

R Tutorial VideosJeremy J. TaylorFebruary 20, 2012R.app, videos, stats, intro, how-to, tutorial Comment

Using Syntax to Assign 'Variable Labels' and 'Value Labels' in SPSS

Preparing a dataset for analysis is an arduous process. Besides recoding and cleaning variables, a diligent data analyst also must assign variable labels and value labels, unless they choose to wait until after your output is exported to Microsoft Word. Unfortunately, that option only leaves additional opportunity for error and confusion, not to mention the inefficiency of editing tables in Microsoft Word...

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