Opening the Crosstabs Menu

The Crosstabs command is found on the SPSS menu bar.
  1. Click on "STATISTICS"
  2. Click on "SUMMARIZE"
  3. Click on "CROSSTABS"

This will open the SPSS Crosstabs window.

The Crosstab Window

The Crosstab Window will allows you to select a dependent variable (i.e., V2 PRESIDENTIAL VOTE, 1996), or what SPSS calls the 'ROW" variable, and an independent variable (i.e., V56 PERSONAL FINANCIAL SITUATION, 1996), or what SPSS calls the "COLUMN" variable.
  1. Locate the dependent variable in the Variable List; select V2, and click on the arrow.
  2. Locate the independent variable in the Variable List, select V56, and clik on the arrow.
  3. To make sure that the appropriate data appears in the cells of the table, Click on "CELLS"
  4. If you wish to generate any statistics for the table, you would click on "STATISTICS".
  5. After selecting the appropriate data for the cells, and any statistics you may wish to
    have generated, click on "OK"

Cell Frequencies and Percentages

Normally, you will want SPSS to generate the cell frequencies and the column percents. To do this:
  1. In the "COUNTS" box, click on "OBSERVED".
  2. In the "PERCENTAGES" box, click on "COLUMN"; however, if you are unsure which
    percentage to select, click on "ROW", "COLUMN", and "TOTAL".
  3. Click on "CONTINUE" to return to the Crosstabs menu. You will then click on "OK".

CROSSTAB TABLE GENERATED BY SPSS

In the example below, the percentages generated by SPSS are column percents. In the first column, the percentages in the cells report the percentage of responds who believe they are "BETTER OFF" than they were a year ago who voted for (1) Clinton, (2) Dole, and (3) Perot. In the second column the percentage of respondents who believe they are the "SAME" as they were a year ago who voted for each of the three candidates. In the third column, the same data is reported for the respondents who thought they were "WORSE OFF" than they were a year ago. The last column reports the total number of respondents, and the percentage of respondents who voted for each of the three candidates.

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Please send suggestions or comments to: jstevens@csulb.edu