Using Student SPSS when a File Exceeds the Student SPSS Cases/Variables Limits

Student SPSS has a limit of a maximum of 1500 cases and 50 variables. If you want to use Student SPSS to analyze a file that exceeds these limits, you must create a new version of the file that does not exceed the limits. Then you can use the file with Student SPSS.

Creating a new file that you can use with Student SPSS is easy. All you have to do is go one time to a PSU computer lab (or elsewhere) where you can use the regular SPSS program to create the new file.

Steps to Create the New File

1. Open the SPSS file using the regular SPSS program. In the data editor press Ctrl-End to go to the end of the file and note if the number of cases exceeds 1500. Using Utilities/Variables note if the number of variables exceeds 50.

2. If the number of variables exceeds 50, then delete enough variables to reduce the number to 50 or less. In the data editor window right-click on a variable name, then cut (Note you can select multiple variables at once).

3. If the number of cases exceeds 1500, then you need to randomly sample 1500 of the cases and delete the rest: Data, Select Cases, click unselected cases are deleted, click random sample of cases, sample, exactly 1500 cases from n (where n is the exact number of cases that you determined were in the file).

4. Save the file, using a new file name. I use the convention of "OldName1500.sav", to make it clear that this new file has 1500 cases selected from the old file.

5. You can now use Student SPSS to analyze this file.

Having gone through how to create a smaller file that you can use with Student SPSS, please note that when you do your analysis for a course project or assignment, the actual computer time should be low. The larger amount of time goes to trying to figure out what to do before doing the computer work, and interpreting the results you get after doing the computer work. Therefore, it really should not be very arduous to make a trip or several trips to a PSU computer lab to do the required computer analysis using regular SPSS. Besides the computer lab on the 2nd floor of the Urban Center is a great lab!

If you get involved in creating new variables, however, the time spent doing the computer work can get to be longer.

Regardless, the above procedure gives you a way if you want to use Student SPSS but the SPSS file exceeds the Student SPSS limits.