PASW Statistics for Windows

User Reviews

• Worse every year.

  CrymreaNovember 27, 2012

  Pros

  I have been using SPSS since the mid-1990's to do statistical analyses. It used to be the "go to" stats program in the social sciences.

  Cons

  It has been getting worse and worse since about version 10 and is now bad enough that the pain of learning another statistical program is preferable. I have had it corrupt databases and substantially drain system resources on a brand new PC. It is slow and crashes with a frequency that is astonishing. Also, you are required to re-purchase the software each and every year. If you don't, the software will lock you out. Simply amazing given the relatively high price. Finally, there are so many other programs these days which are every bit as good as SPSS (and some better and/or cheaper), I simply cannot imagine a reasons for using SPSS. If you are new to stats, I'd recommend learning another program and not wasting your time.

  Summary

  Terrible software. Look elsewhere.

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• Why bother?

  winjeelcomMarch 7, 2012

  Pros

  Has all the right tools, but...

  Cons

  Worst and most confusing installation process (took me three attempts to install, and I am a very computer literate person). Worst customer support (once contacted, no help & no follow up).

  Summary

  I gave up trying to use this. I'm now looking for alternatives like PSPP! Five star product, but minus one star for the installation trauma, and minus three stars for customer support.

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• PASW served me well, but doesn't seem to run on Lion.

  macuser170November 16, 2011

  Pros

  PASW 18.0 ran fine on my mac, and produced everything I wanted. It was fast enough -- loading was a little slow, but never slow enough to get coffee. Because of the excellent variable labelling and editable output, I could return to runs done months and even years before and access old analyses for reports and articles. Drag-and-drop worked great at times.

  Cons

  The early versions for mac were just junk. 18.0 doesn't want to run on the new Lion operating system. Getting the authorization code was a hassle and required the intervention of a university official. When drag and drop didn't work, the result was blurry and illegible when printed out. Without an institutional subsidy, I wouldn't use the product -- it's too expensive for an individual.

  Summary

  IBM, you have a great product. The field of statistics doesn't change that quickly for most analysts. Take care of some of the complaints and you'll be able to sell the product for years with few modifications. Price it correctly and you'll make some real money from the wonderful engine at its heart.

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• Good programme.

  playboyt15September 3, 2011

  Pros

  thank you very much.

  Cons

  I live at thailand.

  Summary

  i need very much.

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• IBM acquires them and SPSS (PASW) goes down the toilet?

  dissomentorAugust 20, 2011

  Pros

  I can't think of any pros since the pre-IBM days. In fact, the best version that I ever used was 14.0

  Cons

  Laggy, crashes, have to wait long periods of time for results to display, uncompatible changes in file format suffix, the list goes on

  Summary

  IBM, we were hoping that you would add to the success of SPSS, not detract from it. How about going back to the old SPSS coding and then make changes only after extensive product testing?

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• Not recommended

  longtalkerAugust 2, 2011

  Pros

  Does lots of things. Is widely used

  Cons

  Much too convoluted, hard to interpret results of even simple analyses unless you are very experienced with the program. Rigid and non-intuitive interface.

  Summary

  Personally I switched to STATISTICA, which is probably equally respected and utilised in the field, and which is overall a much friendlier package, with better support.

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• gets worse with every update

  erinschmerinMay 23, 2011

  Pros

  Many people are dependent on SPSS because they know how to use it and they don't want to have to learn new statistics software (this isn't really a "pro" but it is a reason people use this horrible software).

  Cons

  It is the clunkiest, slowest, buggiest software I ever have to use. Slow, also slows down the rest of my entire system, crashes over every little thing (like using menus). Also, it's very overpriced for how badly it performs.

  Summary

  I run it on a Mac, but from what I hear it also runs like crap on a PC. I start up PASW and then go get a coffee, because it takes that long for it to start up. Once it is running, everything else works like crap. If I'm having problems with spinning beach balls, I quit SPSS and things work like normal again. Within SPSS, I can't make graphs, and I can barely do the simplest things without it crashing. Older version of SPSS were faster, less crash-prone, and easier to use. What happened, and why do we have to pay for this trash? I've seen freeware that works better (if only someone would design easy-to-use statistics freeware that didn't have a steep learning curve!).

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• fantastic opportunity

  dencar23November 3, 2010

  Pros

  user friendly, majority used the product

  Cons

  old product, there are latest right now in the market

  Summary

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• Clunky, impossible interface. It gets worse every year

  FrankOddsJune 22, 2010

  Pros

  The statistical tests are plentiful and seem to be well programmed and validated.

  Cons

  Copy and paste operations between Excel files and data editor infuriating with all but tiny data sets. Can no longer copy output tables or successfully export to Excel. Can't change zoom size on screen. Help function is worthless.

  Summary

  SPSS has never been good to use on a Windows computer. Its early origins with punched card input still show through. Go to the 'help' index and you're confronted with a list of mainly command-line inputs: hopeless! The data view looks like a spreadsheet but doesn't behave like one. The interface problems seem to have become WORSE, if that's possible, now SPSS is taken over by PASW. I tried pasting a large dataset copied from an Excel spreadsheet and ended with the results spread all over the data sheet. I finally discovered that the package crashes like this if your first column contains text strings. DUH! That sort of thing should have been sorted out years ago. Now, with version 18, I can no longer even successfully copy an output table to an Excel spreadsheet. The 'export to Excel' function sets up a spreadsheet containing only the part of an output table that's displaying in the screen window. The 'export as txt' just crashes. And why can't I change the zoom size of data and output windows? The idiosyncratic behaviour of this program has always been irritating and has now got worse. PASW please note: Windows provides a whole load of built-in functions for your user interface. All you have to do is take the time to adapt your package to use Windows norms and thus save those of us forced to do our stats with it the hours we're currently losing struggling with this unmanageable behemoth. I wish my institution could afford something better. The licensing system is ludicrous and time-consuming, and the interface sucks beyond belief. We're always told this package is the only one that's affordable. The rule of 'you get what you pay for' seems to apply here in big measure. PASW has become rubbishware!

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• simple and quickly

  indragiri102January 28, 2010

  Pros

  simple and quickly

  Cons

  for simple statistic only

  Summary

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