SPSS v PSPP

In a few weeks I'm going to have access to more language testing data that you can shake a whole copse full of sticks at, so I'm sharpening the number crunching skills with Bachman (2004) and its companion workbook.  The latter relies on SPSS, so I went in search and downloaded a 21 day version of PASW v18.  When the 21 days ran out, I thought, well, it's a fair cop, and prepared to put my hand in my pocket.  FFS.  I spent an entire morning in a vicious IBM loop, credit card in hand, looking for an licence authorization code.  Forget about it.  It was like trying to find a shop located 1000 feet underground, with no access from the surface.

Fortunately, an old chum had put me in the direction of comparable open-source software.  This morning I've downloaded and installed (in about 2 minutes) PSPP .  I haven't worked with it yet, but it looks like it does everything that PASW v18 does - everything that a language tester wants of it, anyhow.

Or to put it another way, SPSS seems to have become a pile of shite since IBM got its hands on it.  Go open source, kids, it's the way ahead for non-numpties.




Bachman, LF (2004). Statistical analyses for language assessment. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge
University Press.

Comments

  1. AnonymousThu Nov 11, 01:22:00 am GMT

    Well, that's a pretty broad statement.
    1. The current version of SPSS, now called IBM SPSS Statistics is 19. It was released in August, 2010, and V18 is no longer sold.

    2. PSPP doesn't remotely approach the functionality of SPSS Statistics. While it apparently handles the basics, there are many, many features not available, especially in the area of statistical procedures. If you are doing linguistic things, you might want to find out whether PSPP supports Unicode (I don't know.) SPSS does. I also doubt that it has the graphical capabilities of SPSS Statistics.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Garry NixonThu Nov 11, 08:35:00 am GMT

    "V18" is no longer sold". Indeed. If v19 were so wonderful why not make earlier versions available at a price affordable to students?

    You say that PSPP "doesn't remotely approach the functionality" of v19, yet go on to admit you don't know what it actually does.

    What's your angle, Anonymous? Does IBM really pay people to sit in a cubicle and attempt to rubbish adverse blogging?

    Anyhoo, I'll be the judge of whether PSPP can handle my research, thank you, and I'll blog all about it here.

    ReplyDelete
  3. drawjerkyMon Nov 15, 01:32:00 pm GMT

    It maybe like the GIMP and Photoshop. I know loads of people who rubbish the GIMP for whatever reason saying Photoshop is better etc blahblahblah.... but so far the only thing that I've found that the Gimp doesn't do (yet?) is batch process. Maybe I've never used PS to it's 100% capability... Who has? Important thing is... does it do the job?... and I bet the answer is yes..

    ReplyDelete
  4. Garry NixonMon Nov 15, 02:57:00 pm GMT

    Coincidentally, I began working with PSPP this morning. If I ever reach a point when its "functionality" is inadequate, or I need fancier graphics, or find that its shortcomings with regard to unicode are letting me down, well, I'll tell you.

    And the people who compare GIMP unfavourably with PS are amateur photographers, the sort of fucktards who confuse £££s spent on a DSLR with photographic ability. Flickr's infested with them. Like I said to our anonymous IBM troll: if the latest version really is such a fantastic advance on the older ones, making them a bit crap by comparison, then freeware them. The truth is, the newer versions of all of these popular softwares are mere tweaks, designed to part numpties from their hard-earned cash.

    It's been said before, payment for the latest software is a tax levied on the stupid by the greedy.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

LTPTP XXV: We Shall Overcome

Image
We shall indeed.  It's a lovely wee tune to learn.  I've almost memorized it this morning, the idea being, when I encounter a piano, I want something to sit down and play on the bugger.  I've a feeling that my keyboard's keys are lighter than a proper piano's, and there'll be a bit of effort transferring the skills I've gotten so far.  Probably, at some point this year, I'll be in workplace with a piano.  I'll print off some simple music and scales, and work at it, but it's likely to be in a public place so I want something to avoid making a twat of myself initially. It feels right that this should be the first tune I learn by heart.
Read more

Leech or flatworm? Ants and Swiss Chard

Image
For the 2nd time in a week or so, (1st time regarding dwarf beans ), I'm following Alys Fowler's advice, this time with regard to Swiss chard .  Long story short, after midsummer plants which often bolt if planted in spring will resist the impulse to do so, probably because of shortening days; (I say shortening, but in Glasgow, in July, we're still getting 18 hours of daylight).   I got a packet of Bright Lights , at a good price, (another reason to wait until July before sowing, lots of bargains, I've noticed). But where to sow them? Most of the 2nd bed is under a tarpaulin, but it wasn't quite big enough to cover the whole bed, so the last 5ft or so went under a sheet of plastic, (in the background of the photo in this post, here .) Transparent plastic was a foolish idea, weeds were growing underneath it, so I covered most of it with sheets of metal from the old shed. I decided to leave the tarp, but use the area beneath the plastic for the chard. Who-ah there
Read more

VINEGAR!

That wine I started a while back has turned to vinegar. Well, that answered questions I was asking myself back then, viz., 'Do we get vinegar flies around here?' And, 'Are all these little flies vinegar flies?' The fuckers. I thought I was being a clever recycler, not buying proper air-locks and using the old plastic-and-lacky-band method. Ah well, another step up another learning curve. Anybody need three gallons of white wine vinegar and two gallons of the impossibly exotic strawberry wine vinegar? It's been a 'business day', dealing with officials and filling out forms. Don't get me started! Alex came over tonight. He gave me the Aphonic CD (he's been in touch with them and they sent him several copies). I thoroughly approve of this new trend of bands getting their work known over the internet, by-passing (initially at least) the poisonous attentions of the music industry. Come to think of it, some of the people in that business are rat
Read more