PSYC 354
SPSS HOMEWORK: FREQUENCY TABLES, HISTOGRAMS HARTS,AND BAR C
A ISSIGNMENT NSTRUCTIONS
OVERVIEW
This assignment is designed to increase your statistical literacy and proficiency in creating and
interpreting frequency tables, histograms, and bar charts. You will be creating these in SPSS,
using data that are related to specific research scenarios in the behavioral sciences such as
psychology, social work, and counseling. A working knowledge of how to summarize and
visualize data is fundamental to being able to understand and apply research in your related field
to your practice. Additionally, SPSS skills are professionally valuable, as it is one of the most
used statistical software packages in behavioral science settings, both academic and professional.
INSTRUCTIONS
●This assignment includes two problem sets that contain research scenarios and related
questions.
●For each scenario, you will respond to a series of questions asking you to create and
interpret either frequency tables, histograms, or bar charts. Paste your SPSS output
directly into the homework underneath each relevant question. Type written answers into
the document underneath the question to which they relate.
●This assignment is worth 60 points.
Please review the Watch: SPSS Homework Tutorial: Frequency Tables and Histograms in
this module for directions on how to enter data in SPSS and use it to produce the final product
for your assignment. The scenarios begin on the next page.
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PSYC 354
Problem Set 1: The BDI (Beck et al., 1961) is an instrument widely used to assess levels of
depression in individuals in a variety of settings. The scores range from 0–63 (whole numbers
only). A researcher administers the BDI to a sample of college students. The results appear in the
table below. They are entered as 2 columns here to save space (i.e., you will not need 2 columns
in the SPSS file).
BDI Scores
9
10
9
9
11
3
11
20
11
62
15
11
10
4
61
61
20
15
10
11
1. Using the data in the table above, set up a data file in SPSS and create a frequency table
to show the frequency of each score on the BDI. Paste the frequency table here: (8 pts)
BDI
Frequency
Percent
Valid
Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid
3
1
5.0
5.0
5.0
4
1
5.0
5.0
10.0
9
3
15.0
15.0
25.0
10
3
15.0
15.0
40.0
11
5
25.0
25.0
65.0
15
2
10.0
10.0
75.0
20
2
10.0
10.0
85.0
61
2
10.0
10.0
95.0
62
1
5.0
5.0
100.0
Total
20
100.0
100.0
2. How many students have a BDI score of 20? (5 pts)
2 students
3. What percent of students have a BDI score of 9? (5 pts)
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PSYC 354
15% of the students or 3
4. Which score has the highest frequency in the table? (5 pts)
11
5. Using the same data, create a histogram in SPSS to show the distribution of the BDI data.
Paste the histogram here: (7 pts)
Problem Set 2: The overall livability scores of 12 US cities appear in the columns to the left.
The data are based on data taken from the livability calculator at (http://www.areavibes.com/).
Enter the data in a new SPSS file. When creating the City variable, be sure that the type is set to
“String” in the Variable View so that the names will show up on the graph.
(continued on next page)
City
Livability
Score
Boston
Austin
Chicago
Pittsburgh
San Diego
Jackson,MS
Detroit
Miami
73
83
73
75
80
72
67
71
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PSYC 354
New York
Charlotte
Atlanta
Seattle
73
80
78
77
1. Using the data in the table above, set up a data file in SPSS and create a bar chart that
shows the livability rating for each city. (8 pts)
2. Which three cities have the highest livability scores according to the graph? (5 pts)
Austin, San Diego and Charlotte.
3. What level of measurement is the variable “City”? Support your answer with information
from the course materials (textbook or presentations). (5 pts)
It would be in Nominal because it would come under categorizing your data which
would be nominal.
4. What level of measurement is the variable “Livability Score”? Support your answer with
information from the course materials (textbook or presentations). (5 pts)
This would come under Ratio because you are ranking the livability scores because
for scores if a place had a 0 it doesn’t mean that no one could live there but it just means
that the livability score is 0 or less.
Integration: Answer the following question based on Problems 1 and 2 above and what you
have learned from readings and presentations this week.
1. Why is it appropriate to create a histogram for the BDI scores, but a bar chart for the
livability ratings? (7 pts)
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PSYC 354
Histograms were appropriate for problem 1 because the data was quantitative and
Bar Graphs were appropriate for problem 2 because they were nominal variables.
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