Initial settings

Start the SPSS program, go to the Edit menu, and choose Options. Because we want to orient readers to the structure of data sets, in this book we specified that SPSS presents variable names in their file order. When SPSS presents output, we specified that it display both the variable names and variables labels. You should note, however, that many users prefer variables to be listed in alphabetical order, and there is no problem with this, other than the variable lists being presented in an order that is different than the way they are arrayed in the data set. As you work with the data, you will be able to determine which system works best for you.