ALTER TYPE converts string variables to numeric ones.

However, it does other useful stuff too and there's some nasty pitfalls you should know. This tutorial quickly walks you through.

SPSS AUTORECODE converts a categorical string variable into a numeric variable with value labels.

This tutorial quickly walks you through with some examples.

SPSS CORRELATIONS creates tables with Pearson correlations, sample sizes and significance levels.

Its syntax can be as simple as correlations q1 to q5. which creates a correlation matrix for variables q1 through q5. This simple tutorial quickly walks you through some other options as well.

SPSS CROSSTABS is used for

• chi-square tests;
• contingency tables;
• different correlations (Pearson, Spearman, Kendall, Cramér's);
• clustered bar charts.

This quick tutorial walks you through some examples.

Custom Dialogs are tools that you can easily add to SPSS and use from its menu.

By doing so, users can build their own dialogs in SPSS.

SPSS DESCRIPTIVES generates a single table with descriptive statistics for one or more variables. It can also add z-scores to your data.

Some SPSS commands such as COMPUTE, RECODE and SELECT-IF are only executed when needed.

EXECUTE simply makes SPSS complete such commands straight away.

SPSS FILTER excludes a selection of cases from all subsequent analyses until you switch it off again.

Using a filter comes down to creating a (new) filter variable and activating it. This tutorial shows the easy way to do so and points out some nice alternatives as well.

In SPSS, IF computes a new or existing variable but for a selection of cases only.

For example: IF(GENDER = 0) SCORE = MEAN(Q1 TO Q5). computes “score” as the mean over variables Q1 to Q5 but only for cases whose gender is 0 (female).

A loop is a command for executing other commands in a repetitive fashion.

Match files is an SPSS command that's mostly used for merging data holding the same cases but different variables.

This tutorial walks you through some typical examples.

SPSS MEANS produces tables containing means and/or other statistics for different groups of cases. These groups are defined by one or more categorical variables. If assumptions are met, MEANS can be followed up by an ANOVA.

OUTPUT MODIFY adjusts one or many SPSS output tables or charts one go.

This quick introduction demonstrates some amazing examples such as boldfacing large correlations or setting decimal places.

The SPSS RECODE command usually replaces values with different values. It comes in handy for merging categories, dichotomizing continuous variables and some other tasks. This tutorial walks you through its main options, best practices and pitfalls.

In SPSS, SELECT IF removes a selection of cases from your data.

This tutorial walks you through the basics and some FAQ's such as

• how to remove cases based on 2 variables instead of one?
• how to remove cases based on (number of) missing values?
• how to visually inspect only those cases that will be removed?

SPSS SET adjusts most settings in SPSS.

Doing so allows you to

• create much better output with hardly any additional effort;
• speed up a huge variety of tasks;
• accomplish tasks that are otherwise impossible.

In SPSS, a VECTOR is a list of variables that can be referenced by their indices in this list.

VECTOR is often combined with LOOP.