Which version of SPSS?

[Marissa4usa]

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Hi guys,
I just recently got a small grant for my honors thesis. I want to spend part of the money (or actually a good chunk of it) on getting SPSS. I want to be able to not just use it for my thesis but also for my upcoming years as a graduate student. I know there are different versions out there, like student versions, graduate packs, etc.
So, which version do you guys all use? Given that I don't have to pay for it myself, what would you recommend?

Thanks!

 

[JockNerd]

NCSS! 😀

Buy the grad student version (if you can; do this verify that you're a grad student somehow?). The student version is too limited.

 

[helga]

Grad student version
Keep in mind that spss copies are only good for 12 mths

 

[Ollie123]

Hi guys,
I just recently got a small grant for my honors thesis. I want to spend part of the money (or actually a good chunk of it) on getting SPSS. I want to be able to not just use it for my thesis but also for my upcoming years as a graduate student. I know there are different versions out there, like student versions, graduate packs, etc.
So, which version do you guys all use? Given that I don't have to pay for it myself, what would you recommend?

Thanks!

Congratulations on the grant! If I were you, I would hold off on buying it though if you have other things to spend the money on. I don't know where you're going to grad school, but pretty much every school I know of offers it for CHEAP through the school computer store since they all have a site license. I got the full version of SPSS for $10, Visual Studio for $20, Matlab for $100, etc. and I don't think that's unusual at all. Maybe I've just happened to cross paths with awesome deals, but I think this is one of those things that is just kind of expected schools will do - or at least I've come to expect it.

If you do decide to buy it, definitely get the grad student version. The student version is worthless.

 

[stooge]

Congratulations on the grant! If I were you, I would hold off on buying it though if you have other things to spend the money on. I don't know where you're going to grad school, but pretty much every school I know of offers it for CHEAP through the school computer store since they all have a site license. I got the full version of SPSS for $10, Visual Studio for $20, Matlab for $100, etc. and I don't think that's unusual at all. Maybe I've just happened to cross paths with awesome deals, but I think this is one of those things that is just kind of expected schools will do - or at least I've come to expect it.

If you do decide to buy it, definitely get the grad student version. The student version is worthless.

wow where do you go that it is $10 for the full version. It's $90 for the student at Buffalo.

 

[Ollie123]

Sent you a PM. Regardless, if you buy it on your own, the software is often somewhere between several hundred and several thousand dollars, but schools often heavily subsidize software. I think the grad pack can be gotten for $200 something? Which isn't too bad, but I don't know if it comes with any license restrictions.

Anyways, just food for thought. I don't know how big your grant is, but if you were planning on spending $1500 or whatever it costs for the full version, it might not be worth it if you can get it through the school.

 

[Marissa4usa]

The grant is $500 so I don't even know if I could afford anything else other than the grad pack. I also can't spend everything on SPSS.

So you guys are saying that I should go with the grad pack?

 

[Marissa4usa]

Grad student version
Keep in mind that spss copies are only good for 12 mths

What does that mean?

 

[cara susanna]

After 12 months, your license expires.

It's a huge racket, isn't it?

 

[Ollie123]

After 12 months, your license expires.

It's a huge racket, isn't it?

Yes it is. Especially since I'm convinced they don't test their new software before releasing it, as each new version grows slower and more bug-ridden. I don't know what is wrong with that company, but for years I've been tempted to gather some comp sci friends and put them the hell out of business. The mathematical operations it needs to do are complex, but there is absolutely no excuse for some of the problems with that software given the prices they charge.

That said, there are a million different ways these licenses work and I'm not sure its always a 12 month system, and sometimes even if it does expire you can renew the license on the older version for a fraction of the cost of purchasing the new version. Individual licenses differ from site licenses, etc. Point is, talk to the salespeople and make sure you know exactly what you are getting.

 

[cara susanna]

As long as we're ranting here, I can't stand how it isn't backwards-compatible. My prof sent me something from SPSS 16 and I couldn't open it because I had SPSS 14. If you're going to pay hundreds of dollars for software, it would be nice if it wouldn't become obsolete as soon as the next version came out.

 

[psychanxiety]

The backwards compatible issue is pretty common for software, I'm not surprised or terribly upset about it. I do think the 12 month license is ridiculous (meaning it stops working after 12 months unless you pay more money) but again somewhat common for advanced software. SPSS 16 is ridiculously terrible and buggy- they should just reimburse everyone who attempted to use that junk. SPSS 17 is a vast improvement, unless you were one of the people (like my entire lab) who specifically bought non-intel Macs (since previous versions only worked on intel-free macs) to find out that SPSS 17 only works on intel macs now. But for the OP- if your school provides SPSS on campus, buying it with your grant would be a huge waste of money. It's going to run about $200 and may expire in a year (talk to a rep). Plus when you go to grad school you'll probably get the most updated version through the department for cheap.

Grant money is important and rare. Please don't blow it! If you don't use all of it, give it back to the department so they can fund more research.

 

[SpoiledKiwi]

I really don't think you need to buy SPSS. I'm currently finishing up my honor thesis and I've never had the need for SPSS on my personal computer. I've done all of my data entry and analysis on my lab's computers. If the license didn't expire I would suggest getting it, but I don't think it's worth it at this point. I think the grant money would be better spent on paying participants (depending on your study) or helping with conference expenses.

 

[Marissa4usa]

Grant money is important and rare. Please don't blow it! If you don't use all of it, give it back to the department so they can fund more research.

No worries about that. They will only reimburse (implying that I will pay for everything upfront, present them the original receipt and then wait for a check) me for things I have previously listed on my grant application, so there is no way to "keep" money.

I really don't think you need to buy SPSS. I'm currently finishing up my honor thesis and I've never had the need for SPSS on my personal computer. I've done all of my data entry and analysis on my lab's computers. If the license didn't expire I would suggest getting it, but I don't think it's worth it at this point. I think the grant money would be better spent on paying participants (depending on your study) or helping with conference expenses.

The participants are all undergrads who gets course credit for it. In fact my thesis supervisor recommended me to buy SPSS so that I can do the analysis at home (mainly because I am not on campus a lot this semester) but I guess she doesnt know that about the license issue- as she gets it through the university.