Importing Data from Excel

Into SPSS
By
Mohammed Nawaiseh
Importing Data from Excel Into SPSS
1. Excel file
2. Converted into numbers except for the variable names
a. Save these values for further conversion
3. Excel spreadsheet should be formatted according to these criteria:
a. Single row of variable names on the top.
b. Variable names should include ordinary letters, numbers, and underscores (e.g., Gender, Birth_Date, Test_1) and not include
special characters (e.g., "Birth Date" would not be a valid variable name because it contains a space).
c. The data should begin in the first column, second row (beneath the variable names row) of the spreadsheet.
d. Anything that is not part of the data itself (e.g., extra text, labels, graphs, Pivot Tables) should be removed.
e. Missing values → blank (empty) cells, or an appropriate predetermined missing value code (such as -999).
4. Import into SPSS by following these steps:
a. Click File > Open > Data.
b. In the Files of type list select Excel (*.xls, *.xlsx, *.xlsm)
c. Locate and click on your file. The file name will appear in the File name field. Click Open.
5. Read Excel File window will appear.
a. Select the sheet from your Excel workbook that contains your data. (If you have not assigned names to the sheets in your Excel
workbook, the labels you see here will usually be Sheet1, Sheet2, Sheet3, etc.) You can only import one sheet from your Excel
file at a time.
b. If your variable names are in the first row of data, select the Read variable names from the first row of data check box.
c. Click OK when you are finished.
6. Open the Variable view
a. Label the variables Name
b. Label the values
c. Select the type of variable at the measure column
Importing Data from Excel Into SPSS “More Illustration”
1. Data collected in the research will be most likely saved as an excel file
2. The data in the excel file should be converted into numbers except for the variable names
a. Ex → males can be converted to “1” and females can be converted to “2”
i. These values should be saved so that you can refer to it when you Label the values in SPSS
3. Excel spreadsheet should be formatted according to these criteria:
a. The spreadsheet should have a single row of variable names across the top of the spreadsheet in the first row.
b. Variable names should include ordinary letters, numbers, and underscores (e.g., Gender, Birth_Date, Test_1) and not include special
characters (e.g., "Birth Date" would not be a valid variable name because it contains a space).
c. The data should begin in the first column, second row (beneath the variable names row) of the spreadsheet.
d. Anything that is not part of the data itself (e.g., extra text, labels, graphs, Pivot Tables) should be removed.
e. Missing values for string or numeric variables have blank (empty) cells, or an appropriate predetermined missing value code (such as -999).
4. Once the data in your Excel file is formatted properly it can be imported into SPSS by following these steps:
a. Click File > Open > Data.
b. In the Files of type list select Excel (*.xls, *.xlsx, *.xlsm) to specify that your data are in an Excel file. If you do not specify the type of file that
you wish to open, your file will not appear in the list of available files. Locate and click on your file. The file name will appear in the File name
field. Click Open.
5. If you are using SPSS Version 25, the Read Excel File window will appear.
a. In the Worksheet dropdown menu, select the sheet from your Excel workbook that contains your data. (If you have not assigned names to the
sheets in your Excel workbook, the labels you see here will usually be Sheet1, Sheet2, Sheet3, etc.) You can only import one sheet from your
Excel file at a time.
b. If your variable names are in the first row of data, select the Read variable names from the first row of data check box.
c. The options Remove leading spaces from string values and Remove trailing spaces from string values only affect variables that are imported
as strings. The former will remove any whitespace characters that appear at the start of the string, and the latter will remove any whitespace
characters at the end of the string. This is optional, but is often convenient, since leading and trailing spaces can appear invisible to the user,
but cause SPSS to think that otherwise identical strings are distinct.
d. Click OK when you are finished.
6. Open the Variable view
a. Label the variables Name
b. Label the values
c. Select the type of variable at the measure column
Here is an example of what properly formatted data looks like in Excel:
Here is an example of labelling values
Read Excel File window
Now the data will appear in SPSS.
Here is an example of how sample
data appear in SPSS once the data
have been imported:
Variable view → Label the variables and selecting the type of variables “Measure”
Variable view → Label the Values
Data view, after labelling the Values