RUNS TEST FOR RANDOMNESS -
COMPUTER TUTORIAL
You may want to print out this tutorial before beginning so that it is easier to
follow each step. In this tutorial, you will use some hypothetical data to perform
a RUNS test for randomness. We have installed SPSS for Windows on many of
the machines in the education lab, some in the front, classroom section, and some
in the back, open access section. Here is a simple research example. This binary
data might stand for anything - heads vs. tails, scores below the median and scores
above the median, etc.
01 1
02 1
03 1
04 2
05 1
06 1
07 2
08 1
09 2
10 2
11 2
12 2
13 1
The alternate hypothesis is that the order of the ones and twos is not random.
The null hypothesis here is that the order of the ones and twos is random.
We will test to see if the order of the ones and twos are likely to be random. Here
is how to create a data file with SPSS for WINDOWS:
_____ 1. Double click the desktop icon for SPSS FOR WINDOWS.
_____ 2. SPSS for WINDOWS will open. The first screen you see will look like a
spreadsheet with many rows and columns.
NOTE!
Numbers 3 through 5 below will work only with version 9 or earlier of SPSS for
Windows. If you have version 10 or a later version, you will need to click
the tab labeled "variable view" at the lower left of the spreadsheet, then fill in the
variable names in the NAME field of the next box that appears. When you finish,
click the "data view" tab in the lower left of the spreadsheet to return to the
numbers you entered. Then, skip to #6 below.
_____ 3. The cursor will be in the upper left of the array. Click first on Data, and
then on Define variable.
_____ 4. A box will open. Change the name of the variable to "id" and click
on OK.
_____ 5. Now move the cursor one cell to the right. Click on Data, then on Define
variable, change the name of the variable to v1, and click OK.
You should now have the first two columns named id and v1
_____ 6. Now, type in the data, one complete number to a cell, remembering to
add the ID numbers in the first cell in each of the ten rows. It will probably be
easiest to enter one column at a time, because after you enter each number you
can just hit the ENTER key and the number will appear in the proper cell and the
cursor will move down to the next cell in that column.
When you have both columns of numbers correctly entered, you are ready to begin
running the RUNS test.
_____ 1. Click on Analyze (in version 8.0 or older versions of SPSS for
Windows, click Statistics), point to Nonparametric Tests, and click on RUNS.
_____ 2. A box will open. This box will list your two variables in a small field on
the left. The field on the right, for listing the variable to be tested, will be blank.
_____ 3. Highlight the v1 variable by clicking on it one time.
_____ 4. Now, move this variable into the blank window on the right (for listing
the variable to be tested), by clicking once on the right arrow button between the
two windows. The name of the v1 variable should appear in the window on the
right. This tells SPSS which variable you will be using in the RUNS TEST.
_____ 5. Immediately below the left window, you will see some choices
labeled CUT POINT. Remove the check mark next to MEDIAN and put a check
mark next to Custom. Then, type in 1.5 as the custom cut point. (This
tells SPSS what value to use as the cutoff point between plusses and minuses.)
_____ 6. Now, click the Options button in the lower right corner of the box.
Another, smaller box will open.
_____ 7. In the Statistics portion of this new box, put a check next
to Descriptives and Quartiles. This orders SPSS to give you descriptive statistics
on the v1 variable, and to give you the scores that correspond to each quartile. For
this data, that information is not important, but you should know how to order it in
case you need it. Exclude Cases Test-by-Test should also be checked.
_____ 8. Click Continue in the smaller box, then OK in the main box.
_____ 9. SPSS for WINDOWS will run the analysis, and the results will be put
into an OUTPUT BOX, which should appear in a few seconds. If this box does
not occupy the entire screen, click the middle icon at the upper right of that box to
enlarge it.
_____ 10. Print out the output by clicking on File and Print in the upper left.
_____ 11. Now, save or do not save the output as you choose. Then, close the
output window by clicking on the X in the upper right of the screen.
_____ 12. Now, print out the scores you used, which should now be visible again,
by again clicking on File and Print
