Julie Pallant, SPSS Survival Manual
Julie Pallant (author profile)
SPSS Survival Manual: A Step by Step Guide to Data Analysis using SPSS for Windows
(4th edition, Open University Press, 2010)
This excellent and highly recommended book is a deserved best-seller, now in its 4th edition.
All editions use the drop-down menus from the Graphic User Interface (GUI) rather than SPSS syntax. However, for basic file construction and analysis, syntax is usually easier and quicker. To demonstrate this I have replicated some of Julie's examples (from the 2nd edition) using syntax rather than drop-down menus: these appear in the full text of Old Dog, Old Tricks and in the 5th accompanying slide show: Exercises from Julie Pallant SPSS Survival Manual elsewhere on this site.
My extensive critical reviews of the 1st and 2nd editions are completely different and need to be read together. They apply equally to the 3rd and 4th editions.
SPSS Survival Manual: A Step by Step Guide to Data Analysis using SPSS for Windows
(4th edition, Open University Press, 2010)
This excellent and highly recommended book is a deserved best-seller, now in its 4th edition.
All editions use the drop-down menus from the Graphic User Interface (GUI) rather than SPSS syntax. However, for basic file construction and analysis, syntax is usually easier and quicker. To demonstrate this I have replicated some of Julie's examples (from the 2nd edition) using syntax rather than drop-down menus: these appear in the full text of Old Dog, Old Tricks and in the 5th accompanying slide show: Exercises from Julie Pallant SPSS Survival Manual elsewhere on this site.
My extensive critical reviews of the 1st and 2nd editions are completely different and need to be read together. They apply equally to the 3rd and 4th editions.
1st edition 2001 (SPSS 10 and 11)
Full length critical review of 1st edition
2nd edition 2005 (SPSS 12)
Completely different critical review of 2nd edition
3rd edition 2007 (SPSS 15)
Comments extracted from SPSSX discussion, September 2009, but my opinion remains the same.
4th edition 2010 (SPSS 18)
Brief comments, but my opinion remains the same.
5th edition 2013 (SPSS 21)
Not yet seen this edition, but it is updated for SPSS 21 has revised lists of readings and other websites. Different publishers depending on region of world, but there is a really useful website with links to publishers and to book contents and resources for students and tutors. Also available to rent from CourseSmart in ebook version (with a facility to look inside before purchase).
This 5th edition still uses the GUI for analyses, but (in a welcome concession) also includes examples of the syntax (default only) produced by PASTE. Screenshots have been updated, but remain black and white, not colour. Very little tabulation, but plenty of inferential and multivariate statistics.. .
This 5th edition still uses the GUI for analyses, but (in a welcome concession) also includes examples of the syntax (default only) produced by PASTE. Screenshots have been updated, but remain black and white, not colour. Very little tabulation, but plenty of inferential and multivariate statistics.. .