HISTORY 661	Professor Jules Tygiel
Tuesdays, 4:10-7:00	Science 224, x81119
http://bss.sfsu.edu/tygiel/hist661	hist685@sfsu.edu
	Office Hours: TH 2-3, W 6-7

INTRODUCTION TO SPSS

The purpose of this course will be to introduce students to the compilation, access, and analysis of databases using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Students will learn to create databases, locate databases on the internet and be given an introduction to statistical analysis. During the first part of the course students will perform statistical analysis based on a database provided by the instructor and write an explanatory paper. During the latter portion of the course, students will select their own base from the Internet and perform data analysis on that database and write a paper.

OPTIONAL SOFTWARE: I strongly advise all students who wish to work at home and have Windows home computers that are powerful enough to handle it to purchase copies of the most recent SPSS Student Version. These software packages (or the graduate student versions of SPSS 13.0 for students) are available at the bookstore, or, you may order them directly from Prentice Hall through their Web page: www.prenhall.com. Use their search engine and ask for SPSS 13.0. Unfortunately they are not cheap.

COURSE PREREQUISITES: All students enrolled in this course are expected to have completed History 660 or have commensurate computer skills. These skills include:

          1) Familiarity with the BSS Computer Network
          2) Familiarity with a Windows environment
          3) Ability to manage files in these environments.
          4) Ability to use e-mail (You must have an e-mail account).
          5) Familiarity with Internet Explorer or other web browsers.
          6) Ability to use internet search tools.

GRADING: The major part of the final grade will be based on the two reports indicating how well students have mastered SPSS and can apply it to the databases. These reports will be due on April 17 and May 22. There will also be assignments for students to demonstrate their competency in using SPSS.

STATISTICS: This course is not a class in statistics, but it will provide a brief introduction and review of basic statistical concepts. For those of you who need additional help with the statistical part of the course, I suggest the following texts:

            Freeman F. Elzey, A Programmed Introduction to Statistics
            Frederick Williams, Reasoning With Statistics
            Derek Rowntree, Statistics Without Tears: a Primer for Non- Mathematicians
            John L. Phillips, How To Think About Statistics

READING ASSIGNMENTS AND CLASS SCHEDULE

(This schedule will be highly flexible. Some topics may take us less time than anticipated, others more. If there are any additional subjects that you wish to cover or additional things that you wish to do with the data, let the instructor know. We will adjust the syllabus accordingly.)

January 30	Introduction/ Writing a Codebook Handouts: Terms to Remember; African American Workers in World War I.) Assignment: Begin writing your Codebook for the World War I Database; Include Variables, Variable Names, Relevant Value Labels, Levels of Measurement.
February 6	Constructing SPSS Programs Using the Data Editor Assignment: Complete Codebook; Define Variables in SPSS; Print out File Info Command; enter World War I data.
February 13	Constructing SPSS Programs Using the Data Editor--II Assignment: Enter World War I Data; submit printout using Case Summaries Command.
February 20	Frequencies Assignment: Run Frequencies for World War I Database and submit printout.
February 27	Descriptive Statistics for Frequencies Assignment: Run frequencies for all variables in the San Francisco Working Women database. Select seven variables for further analysis and produce the appropriate descriptive statistics and tables. These variables should include nominal, ordinal, and interval/ratio variables.
March 6	Data Transformation: Recode, Compute, If Assignment: Recode and Compute new variables for SF Working Women Data Base.
March 13	Sampling and Testing Differences in Means Assignment: Using Working Women Data Base, determine whether there are statistically significant differences between groups for the following variables: age, number of people in household, family size.
March 20	Bivariate Analysis: Crosstabs and Means Assignment: Create Crosstabs tables for first paper.
March 27	Bivariate Analysis: Correlations and Oneway ANOVA Assignment: Select a database to use for your second paper.
April 4	Finding Data Bases on the Internet FIRST PAPER DUE
April 10	SPRING BREAK
April 17	Correlations, Plots, and Regression Analysis
April 24	Time Series
May 1	Multivariate Analysis: Crosstabs and Partial Correlation
May 8	Multivariate Analysis: Multiple Regression
May 15	Open Lab
May 22	SECOND PAPER DUE