"SPSS is great!" you say, "And my school has a copy in the computer lab, but I don't
actually have it installed on my home computer, so I can't open the SPSS output."
Well, I have good news for you! You CAN open the SPSS output, even if you do not
have SPSS installed, using a free bit of software called the IBM SPSS Smartreader.
Now, this video is NOT about how to get a full version of SPSS for free.
There are no free versions that I know about, but you can view, and even edit,
SPSS output, without installing the full program. We're going to dive deeper into
how you can use the SPSS Smartreader.
The IBM SPSS Smartreader provides much of the dynamic functionality found in
the IBM SPSS Statistics Viewer without requiring you to install SPSS Statistics.
The Smartreader can be installed on a machine that does not have SPSS
Statistics installed, and it does not require a license. It allows you to open
and use SPSS output, but it does not do any kind of analysis; however, if all you
need to do is examine the output that you got from someone else,
then the Smartreader is for you. It is available for Mac, Windows, and Linux.
Start by going to www.IBM.com. Smartreader can be hard to find. If you search
for "Smartreader", you end up with some blogs, and if you limit your search to
"Products", Smartreader does not show up. Instead, scroll down and click on
information for developers. In the developerWorks, search for "Smartreader".
Among the results that will pop up will be a link to "Extensions, Tools, and
Utilities for SPSS Statistics." The options include a variety of downloads
available for SPSS, such as plug-ins for Python and R, and then you will find the
Smartreader. Version 25 is available for Windows and Linux, but the Mac link is
not active at this time. (It may be active when you check it.) If you are using
Windows, click on 32 or 64-bit, and Download. If you're using Mac, for now you
need to download an older version. In order to download, either create a new
user account, or use your existing IBMid. Keep this information safe because you
will probably use your IBMid again in the future. I am using version 24 , so I
will download the "Tools for SPSS Statistics Products, Version 24".
Click Continue.
The second option says "Mac". (You should choose Windows or Linux versions that
work for you.) Click Download. Now, at this point you may
(or may not) need to download the IBM Download Director. If so, follow the
installation directions on the website. Getting the website to work, downloading
the software, granting permissions on the computer, actually took me several
minutes, which I will skip over for this video.
Just know that downloading software from IBM may not go as smoothly as you would expect.
When the SPSS Smartreader Installer opens, double-click.
Give permission to run on your computer and click OK to begin the installation.
Click Next. Accept the terms of the license agreement - always fully reading the Terms
of Use - select the installation location, and install. The installation may take
several minutes which, through the magic of editing, can be compressed into a six
second montage. When the installation finishes, click Done.
To find the SPSS Smartreader, begin in your Applications folder. Double-click
through the folders: IBM -> SPSS (there's your Statistics app) -> Smartreader ->
24 (or your version number)... and there is the SPSS Smartreader, complete with its
smart-looking glasses. Double-click to open. This may be a good time to create a
software shortcut for your desktop or for your dock, so that you can get to
Smartreader more easily. With the Smartreader, you can transpose rows and
columns in tables, you can edit pivot tables, you can modify charts to change
colors or fonts or swap the axes, you can add interpolation lines, and even change
the chart type. For example, you could change a bar chart to a pie chart...
although you should never change anything to a pie chart. For this example,
I have chosen an output file from a previous analysis that we did. I placed
it on the desktop as "Output5". To open it, go to File -> Open. Navigate to the desktop.
Click Open. You will see that the Smartreader looks just like the SPSS Viewer,
or output window, and it allows you to view and even edit the output.
For example, you can double-click on a bar chart to open the Chart Editor. Here, you
can change any of the properties, just as you've seen me do in previous videos.
Save the output and quit the Smartreader.