Reverse Scoring in SPSS

Reverse scoring is something that I’ve been asked about a good few times. This useful when you have collected data on a questionnaire with Likert scale answers (i.e. 1 to 5, 1 to 7, 1 to 10 etc.). Often you find that some questions in the set refer to a score of 1 being low and other questions 1 is a high score.  What you would need to do is reverse ONE set of questions, either the 1 = low set, or the 1=high set, so that all the questions are consistent.

I tend to suggested to students to work on the data in Excel before you transfer it into SPSS. I suggest this as students are often much more comfortable Excel than SPSS.  However, there is a way to do it in SPSS and here is a really good, clear video showing exactly how to do it:

 

3 Replies to “Reverse Scoring in SPSS”

  1. my question is, is it possible to reverse code scores from statements that are positive; but in really sense you expected the answers to be negative so that the data make meaning?
    please reply.

    Joel Okutoyi.

    1. I believe you would need to code the statements into numeric form before ‘recoding’. Though if all are in this direction you say, score correctly in the first instance.
      I hope that helps though I suspect not but I’m rather unsure of what you’re actually wanting. Sorry!

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