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Creating a frequency table in SPSS is a simple and effective way to organize and summarize categorical data. To do so, first open your dataset in SPSS and select “Analyze” from the menu bar, then choose “Descriptive Statistics” and “Frequencies.” Next, select the variable(s) you want to include in your frequency table and click “OK.” The resulting table will display the number of cases and the corresponding frequencies for each category in your data.
For example, if we have a dataset of students’ favorite colors, the frequency table in SPSS would display the number of students who chose each color as their favorite, such as:
| Color | Frequency |
|————-|———–|
| Blue | 25 |
| Red | 10 |
| Green | 15 |
| Yellow | 5 |
| Purple | 8 |
| Orange | 3 |
This allows us to easily see the most popular color among the students and the distribution of preferences. Overall, creating a frequency table in SPSS is a useful tool for organizing and understanding categorical data.
Create a Frequency Table in SPSS (With Example)
A frequency table is a type of table that displays the frequencies of each unique value for a given variable in a dataset.
The easiest way to create a frequency table in SPSS is to use Analyze > Descriptive Statistics > Frequencies.
The following example shows how to do so in practice.
Example: How to Create a Frequency Table in SPSSS
Suppose we have the following dataset in SPSS that contains information about various basketball players:
Suppose that we would like to create a frequency table to summarize how often each team name appears in the Team column.
To create this frequency table, click the Analyze tab, then click Descriptive Statistics, then click Frequencies:
In the new window that appears, drag Team into the Variables panel.
Note #1: If you’d like, you can also click the Statistics button in the top right corner to produce various descriptive statistics for the Team variable as well.
Note #2: You can also drag more than one variable into the Variables panel if you’d like to create a frequency table for multiple variables at once.
Next, click OK:
The following output will be generated:
The first table shows that there were 11 Valid values in the Team column and 0 Missing values.
For example, we can see:
- The team name Mavs occurs 4 times, which represents 4/11 = 36.4% of all values in the Team column.
- The team name Rockets occurs 3 times, which represents 3/11 = 27.3% of all values in the Team column.
- The team name Spurs occurs 2 times, which represents 3/11 = 18.2% of all values in the Team column.
- The team name Warriors occurs 2 times, which represents 3/11 = 18.2% of all values in the Team column.
Note that the values in the Percent column add up to 100%.
Additional Resources
The following tutorials explain how to perform other common operations in SPSS: