Activity 16.3
Creating and Editing a Multivariate Percentage Table Using SPSS

The objective in this exercise is to create a multivariate percentage table using the software package SPSS. This exercise is a continuation of Activity 14.4, in which we created a bivariate percentage table from the General Social Survey for 2000 using SPSS, with the dependent variable of confidence in Congress and the independent variable of age. In this activity, we will add a control variable.

Click on "Analyze" near the top of the page. When the box appears under "Analyze," click on "Descriptive Statistics." When a box appears to the side, click on "Crosstabs." Now you are looking at a new window titled"Crosstabs." Scroll through variables on the left and highlight "conlegis." Use the arrow button to move "conlegis" into the box titled "Row(s)"; this will be your dependent variable.

Scroll through the variables on the left again and highlight "agequart." Use the arrow button to move "agequart" into the box titled "Column(s)"; this will be your independent variable. Click on the "Cells" button at the bottom of the window. Now you are looking at a new window titled"Crosstabs: Cell Display." In the small box titled "Percentages," click on "Column" so a check mark appears; this will ensure that percentages in the table are calculated down the columns. Click on the "Continue" button. Now you are back at the window titled "Crosstabs." Click on "OK." A window titled "Output-SPSS Viewer" appears; the results of your data analysis examining the relationship between age and confidence in Congress are in this window. Scroll through the results, noting differences among the age groupings in their confidence in Congress.

With the SPSS Viewer window still open and showing the bivariate table, click on "Analyze" near the top of the page. When the gray box appears under "Analyze," click on "Descriptive Statistics," and when the box appears to the side, click on "Crosstabs." You are now back to the bivariate "Crosstab" analysis you previously set up. Scroll through the variables on the left and highlight "sex." Then use the arrow button to move "sex" into the box titled "Layer 1 of 1." This will be your CONTROL variable.