7.2 Data entry

In the SPSS Variable View,

Diet: we can set this up so that 1 means ‘Vegetarian’ (i.e. in row 1), and 2 means ‘Non-vegetarian’ (i.e. in row 2).
B12: we can set this up so that 1 means ‘B12 deficient’ (i.e. in column 1), and 2 means ‘Not B12 deficient’ (i.e. in column 2).

See Fig. 6.1.

The usual approach for data entry used by SPSS is that each row represents one unit of analysis. That means that there will be 124 rows of data: one for each person (unit of analysis).

In SPSS, the data would be entered as shown in Fig. 7.1, but there would be 124 rows.

FIGURE 7.1: Data entered into SPSS

So the Variable View would describe these two variables; see Fig. 7.2.

FIGURE 7.2: Describing the variable in the Variable View window