SPSS is a common software used by data analysts to conduct statistical data analysis. The designation SPSS is short for Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. While no longer just used in social science, SPSS is today a common tool for education, marketing, and healthcare researchers to perform statistical analysis and statistical operations. Among the types of data analyzed using SPSS by researchers include scientific research results, Google analytics, server log files, survey results, and organization customer databases. SPSS software, which has been owned by IBM for over a decade, supports spreadsheets, plain text files, and relational databases like SAS, SATA, and SQL. In fact, almost all kinds of formats of structured data are supported by SPSS software.

Why is it valuable to learn SPSS?

It's valuable to learn SPSS as it may give you graphical insights into how to manage data, conduct data mining, select data cases, recode variables, and manage research surveys. Learning SPSS can also help provide quick data analysis with accurate information about variables and cases. The SPSS software also includes charts and graphs, which makes it easy to share and show data findings. These are valuable assets to learn and to use in your professional career. SPSS software can simplify and speed up your data analytics work through its menu-driven UI that gives you data insights with a few clicks.

What are typical career opportunities that can arise from learning SPSS?

Typical career opportunities that use SPSS are mainly jobs like data analysts, research analysts, and intelligence analysts. These roles may be in government work, research, healthcare, science, education, and marketing. You may even use SPSS understanding to work as an SPSS software instructor. In many of these roles, your knowledge of SPSS would help you conduct data management, data analysis, and research functions for your organization, to help provide meaningful insight for the enterprise.

How can taking online courses on Coursera help me learn SPSS?

When you take online courses on Coursera about SPSS, you may learn the basics of using the SPSS software and the fundamentals of statistical theory and design, as well as how to create variables, how to enter data, and how to modify properties of variables in common statistical tests. Having a basic understanding of data and statistics may help you enrich your learning of SPSS in a faster way. It may also speed up your learning of how SPSS is used in quantitative research models and other statistics formulations.

Best SPSS Courses & Certificates [2025]

Explore the SPSS Course Catalog

Status: Free
Peking University
医学统计学与SPSS软件（基础篇）
Skills you'll gain: Statistical Hypothesis Testing, SPSS, Statistical Analysis, Statistical Methods, Sampling (Statistics), Descriptive Statistics, Correlation Analysis, Regression Analysis, Probability & Statistics, Biostatistics, Quantitative Research, Data Analysis
4.6
Rating, 4.6 out of 5 stars
152 reviews
Mixed · Course · 1 - 3 Months
University of Amsterdam
Methods and Statistics in Social Sciences
Skills you'll gain: Qualitative Research, Statistical Hypothesis Testing, Scientific Methods, Descriptive Statistics, Statistical Inference, Statistical Analysis, Statistical Software, Probability Distribution, Research, Correlation Analysis, Research Design, Sampling (Statistics), Research Reports, Science and Research, Probability, Interviewing Skills, Data Analysis, Sample Size Determination, Statistical Methods, Social Sciences
4.6
Rating, 4.6 out of 5 stars
7.6K reviews
Beginner · Specialization · 3 - 6 Months
Status: Free
Eindhoven University of Technology
Improving your statistical inferences
Skills you'll gain: Statistical Inference, Statistical Hypothesis Testing, Quantitative Research, Bayesian Statistics, Statistical Analysis, Sample Size Determination, Data Analysis, Research, Research Design, Research Methodologies, Data Sharing, Probability, Probability Distribution
4.9
Rating, 4.9 out of 5 stars
792 reviews
Intermediate · Course · 1 - 3 Months
SAS
Statistics with SAS
Skills you'll gain: SAS (Software), Statistical Hypothesis Testing, Statistical Software, Statistical Analysis, Predictive Modeling, Statistical Programming, Statistical Modeling, Statistical Methods, Regression Analysis, Probability & Statistics, Data Analysis
4.7
Rating, 4.7 out of 5 stars
296 reviews
Intermediate · Course · 1 - 3 Months
Status: Free
University of Amsterdam
Data Analytics for Lean Six Sigma
Skills you'll gain: Lean Six Sigma, Data Visualization, Statistical Hypothesis Testing, Minitab, Regression Analysis, Probability Distribution, Statistical Methods, Data Analysis, Statistical Analysis, Analytics, Process Improvement, Quality Control, Variance Analysis
4.8
Rating, 4.8 out of 5 stars
3.4K reviews
Beginner · Course · 1 - 3 Months
PwC
Data Visualization with Advanced Excel
Skills you'll gain: Data Presentation, Dashboard, Data Storytelling, Data Visualization Software, Microsoft Excel, Spreadsheet Software, Graphing, Pivot Tables And Charts, Data Modeling, Databases, Data Analysis, Simulation and Simulation Software
4.8
Rating, 4.8 out of 5 stars
3K reviews
Beginner · Course · 1 - 4 Weeks
University of Maryland, College Park
Survey Data Collection and Analytics
Skills you'll gain: Sampling (Statistics), Sample Size Determination, Survey Creation, Data Collection, Statistical Analysis, Data Analysis Software, Business Research, Interviewing Skills, Data Integration, Data Ethics, Research Design, Stata, R Programming, Data Quality, Data Analysis, Statistical Modeling, Qualitative Research, Statistical Methods, Statistical Programming, Data Cleansing
4.4
Rating, 4.4 out of 5 stars
1.4K reviews
Beginner · Specialization · 3 - 6 Months
Status: New
Microsoft
Microsoft Data Visualization
Skills you'll gain: Data Storytelling, Data Analysis Expressions (DAX), Data Presentation, Power BI, Data Ethics, Dashboard, Data Visualization Software, Data Modeling, Data Governance, Extract, Transform, Load, Data Visualization, Interactive Data Visualization, Business Intelligence, Data Analysis, Statistical Analysis, Data Architecture, Correlation Analysis, Data Cleansing, Data Transformation, Database Design
4.6
Rating, 4.6 out of 5 stars
51 reviews
Beginner · Professional Certificate · 3 - 6 Months
University of Amsterdam
Quantitative Methods
Skills you'll gain: Scientific Methods, Research Design, Sampling (Statistics), Science and Research, Research Methodologies, Quantitative Research, Data Collection, Social Sciences, Survey Creation, Experimentation, Ethical Standards And Conduct
4.7
Rating, 4.7 out of 5 stars
2.3K reviews
Mixed · Course · 1 - 3 Months
University of Colorado Boulder
Data Science Foundations: Statistical Inference
Skills you'll gain: Statistical Hypothesis Testing, Probability, Probability & Statistics, Statistical Inference, Statistical Methods, Probability Distribution, Statistics, Bayesian Statistics, Sampling (Statistics), Statistical Analysis, Data Ethics, Data Science, Data Analysis, Quantitative Research, Sample Size Determination
Build toward a degree
4.4
Rating, 4.4 out of 5 stars
318 reviews
Intermediate · Specialization · 3 - 6 Months
SAS
SAS Statistical Business Analyst
Skills you'll gain: SAS (Software), Predictive Modeling, Predictive Analytics, Statistical Hypothesis Testing, Statistical Analysis, Correlation Analysis, Statistical Modeling, Regression Analysis, Statistical Methods, Probability & Statistics, Big Data, Plot (Graphics), Data Analysis, Data Analysis Software, Analysis, Feature Engineering, Performance Analysis, Performance Measurement, Data Cleansing
4.6
Rating, 4.6 out of 5 stars
216 reviews
Intermediate · Professional Certificate · 3 - 6 Months
Wesleyan University
Data Analysis Tools
Skills you'll gain: Statistical Hypothesis Testing, Statistical Analysis, Statistical Software, Correlation Analysis, Statistical Programming, SAS (Software), Analysis, Data Analysis, Statistical Methods, Probability & Statistics, Analytical Skills, Regression Analysis, Data Management
4.5
Rating, 4.5 out of 5 stars
414 reviews
Mixed · Course · 1 - 4 Weeks