Using pspp

[Leonard Evens]

I have been using pspp from the gui version psppire.   I am running
version 0.6.1 under Fedora 11.  (The package is pspp-0.6.1-3.fc11.i586.)
But I am  unclear about some things.

1> Is it possible to delete variables?   How about entries?

2> I've been running descriptive statistics for frequencies and
crosstabs.  But I have to copy what is in the output window each time
and paste it into a text file using gedit.  Is there some way using
psppire to put the output in a file?  Is there some way to control the
format of the output?  It often divides a cross tabulation table into
separate sub-tables, as might be required to continue on the next page,
and I then have to merge by deleting extra lines in gedit.

Is there some way to show the details of how a recoded variable was
recoded?

3>  Supposedly pspp can produce graphs of various kinds, e.g.,
histograms.  Is this only possible by running pspp in a terminal window
at the command line?

4>  I have split the data on the values of a certain variable and then
run crosstabs on different pairs of variables.  Some of these variables
are recodings into new variables of other variables. (The split is done
on the basis of one of these recoded variables.) There appears to be
some sort of bug.  Namely, in some cases, perhaps only in cases of
recoded variables, the reported number of missing values is wrong in one
of the two sets produced by the split. In the errant set, the number
reported is the total number of missing values rather than just the
number for that set.  As far as I can tell the cross tabulations are
right for the valid data.

I've reported this to the pgpp-bugs mailing list, but haven't gotten a
detailed response yet.  I presume it is possible I did something wrong.
e.g., in creating the recoded variables.  Can anyone suggest anything
which I might have done wrong?

5>  Is there some tutorial which goes through various examples,
particularly  using psppire?  I've been studying the manual, but it
isn't a whole lot of help in using the pspire.
 
--
Leonard Evens len@...
Professor Emeritus, Department of Mathematics, Northwestern University



_______________________________________________
Pspp-users mailing list
Pspp-users@...
http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/pspp-users

[John Darrington-3]

On Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 10:18:18AM -0500, Leonard Evens wrote:
     I have been using pspp from the gui version psppire.   I am running
     version 0.6.1 under Fedora 11.  (The package is pspp-0.6.1-3.fc11.i586.)
     But I am  unclear about some things.
     
     1> Is it possible to delete variables?   How about entries?

Yes and yes.  Right click on the row/column concerned and choose "Clear"
from the popup menu.  Alternatively select the row/column and from the Edit
menu choose the Clear item.
     
     2> I've been running descriptive statistics for frequencies and
     crosstabs.  But I have to copy what is in the output window each time
     and paste it into a text file using gedit.  Is there some way using
     psppire to put the output in a file?  

The output is by default put into a file called "psppire.txt".


     Is there some way to control the
     format of the output?  It often divides a cross tabulation table into
     separate sub-tables, as might be required to continue on the next page,
     and I then have to merge by deleting extra lines in gedit.

Not from the GUI.  It's possible from the command line interface.  See the
section of the manual entitled "Output devices".
     
     Is there some way to show the details of how a recoded variable was
     recoded?

I'm not sure that I understand this question.  There is a record of all commands
run in pspp.jnl if that helps.
     
     3>  Supposedly pspp can produce graphs of various kinds, e.g.,
     histograms.  Is this only possible by running pspp in a terminal window
     at the command line?

Well you can also do it by running the commands in the GUI's syntax window.
However the problem is, that version 0.6.x doesn't have any way to actually
display the graphs.   This is currently being addressed - if you're prepared
to build the "output" branch from the git repository, then you can see what
progress has been made so far.
     
     4>  I have split the data on the values of a certain variable and then
     run crosstabs on different pairs of variables.  Some of these variables
     are recodings into new variables of other variables. (The split is done
     on the basis of one of these recoded variables.) There appears to be
     some sort of bug.  Namely, in some cases, perhaps only in cases of
     recoded variables, the reported number of missing values is wrong in one
     of the two sets produced by the split. In the errant set, the number
     reported is the total number of missing values rather than just the
     number for that set.  As far as I can tell the cross tabulations are
     right for the valid data.
     
     I've reported this to the pgpp-bugs mailing list, but haven't gotten a
     detailed response yet.  I presume it is possible I did something wrong.
     e.g., in creating the recoded variables.  Can anyone suggest anything
     which I might have done wrong?

Probably nothing.  The crosstabs command was completely rewritten in version
0.7.x so hopefully this problem won't arise there.
     
     5>  Is there some tutorial which goes through various examples,
     particularly  using psppire?  I've been studying the manual, but it
     isn't a whole lot of help in using the pspire.

Unfortunately not.  Pspp started as a free replacement for Spss.  However
it's starting to attract interest from people who have never used Spss, so
it maybe time to write such a tutorial.  Any volunteers?

J'

--
PGP Public key ID: 1024D/2DE827B3
fingerprint = 8797 A26D 0854 2EAB 0285  A290 8A67 719C 2DE8 27B3
See http://pgp.mit.edu or any PGP keyserver for public key.




_______________________________________________
Pspp-users mailing list
Pspp-users@...
http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/pspp-users

[Leonard Evens]

On Tue, 2009-10-27 at 18:40 +0000, John Darrington wrote:

> On Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 10:18:18AM -0500, Leonard Evens wrote:
>      I have been using pspp from the gui version psppire.   I am running
>      version 0.6.1 under Fedora 11.  (The package is pspp-0.6.1-3.fc11.i586.)
>      But I am  unclear about some things.
>      
>      1> Is it possible to delete variables?   How about entries?
>
> Yes and yes.  Right click on the row/column concerned and choose "Clear"
> from the popup menu.  Alternatively select the row/column and from the Edit
> menu choose the Clear item.

Thanks for responding.

>      
>      2> I've been running descriptive statistics for frequencies and
>      crosstabs.  But I have to copy what is in the output window each time
>      and paste it into a text file using gedit.  Is there some way using
>      psppire to put the output in a file?  
>
> The output is by default put into a file called "psppire.txt".

Okay.  I found it in my home directory.  But I was working in another
directory.  Is there some way to specify a working directory?

>
>
>      Is there some way to control the
>      format of the output?  It often divides a cross tabulation table into
>      separate sub-tables, as might be required to continue on the next page,
>      and I then have to merge by deleting extra lines in gedit.
>
> Not from the GUI.  It's possible from the command line interface.  See the
> section of the manual entitled "Output devices".
>      
>      Is there some way to show the details of how a recoded variable was
>      recoded?
>
> I'm not sure that I understand this question.  There is a record of all commands
> run in pspp.jnl if that helps.

Ah! in my home directory again.  It should be helpful in learning how to
use the command line version.
>      
>      3>  Supposedly pspp can produce graphs of various kinds, e.g.,
>      histograms.  Is this only possible by running pspp in a terminal window
>      at the command line?
>
> Well you can also do it by running the commands in the GUI's syntax window.

I suppose it is moot, but I can't find a `syntax window'.  I can't find
any reference anywhere to any graphical procedure, e.g. histogram, in
psppire.

> However the problem is, that version 0.6.x doesn't have any way to actually
> display the graphs.   This is currently being addressed - if you're prepared
> to build the "output" branch from the git repository, then you can see what
> progress has been made so far.
>      
>      4>  I have split the data on the values of a certain variable and then
>      run crosstabs on different pairs of variables.  Some of these variables
>      are recodings into new variables of other variables. (The split is done
>      on the basis of one of these recoded variables.) There appears to be
>      some sort of bug.  Namely, in some cases, perhaps only in cases of
>      recoded variables, the reported number of missing values is wrong in one
>      of the two sets produced by the split. In the errant set, the number
>      reported is the total number of missing values rather than just the
>      number for that set.  As far as I can tell the cross tabulations are
>      right for the valid data.
>      
>      I've reported this to the pgpp-bugs mailing list, but haven't gotten a
>      detailed response yet.  I presume it is possible I did something wrong.
>      e.g., in creating the recoded variables.  Can anyone suggest anything
>      which I might have done wrong?
>
> Probably nothing.  The crosstabs command was completely rewritten in version
> 0.7.x so hopefully this problem won't arise there.

I did compile a 0.7.x version from source but psppire crashed whenever I
tried to do anything with it.

Can you point me at some version which works?

>      
>      5>  Is there some tutorial which goes through various examples,
>      particularly  using psppire?  I've been studying the manual, but it
>      isn't a whole lot of help in using the pspire.
>
> Unfortunately not.  Pspp started as a free replacement for Spss.  However
> it's starting to attract interest from people who have never used Spss, so
> it maybe time to write such a tutorial.  Any volunteers?

Fortunately, my wife once used SPSS extensively, so perhaps between us
we can figure out how to use the command line version.  They didn't have
a GUI version in  her days.

>
> J'
>



_______________________________________________
Pspp-users mailing list
Pspp-users@...
http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/pspp-users

[nasatir]

Leonard Evens wrote:
> ...
> I suppose it is moot, but I can't find a `syntax window'.  I can't find
> any reference anywhere to any graphical procedure, e.g. histogram, in
> psppire.
>  
..Try:

File->New->syntax

That should produce a new syntax window.

I have found that cutting some syntax from spss and pasting it into the
pspp syntax window and then running pspp works for some things.

David Nasatir


_______________________________________________
Pspp-users mailing list
Pspp-users@...
http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/pspp-users