* ======================================================================= 
*  File:  	z_scores.SPS .
*  Date:  	14-Jan-2003 .
*  Author:  	Bruce Weaver, weaverb@mcmaster.ca .
*  Notes:	Use DESCRIPTIVES to save standardized scores .
* ======================================================================= .

* Raynald Levesque posted an item in the SPSS newsgroup 
* showing how to save z-scores using the /SAVE option
* in DESCRIPTIVES.  Here's an example.

* Read in an ID# and a couple of numbers.

DATA LIST LIST /id x y (3f5.0).
BEGIN DATA.
1 15 44
2  3 27
3  6 34
4  8 22
5 12 88
6 10 73
END DATA.

descriptives 
 /variables = x y
 /statistics = mean stddev min max range
 /SAVE .	/*  <------------------------- This will save the z-scores .

* Z-scores were saved by the DESCRIPTIVES procedure.
* Now show descriptive statistics on the z-scores.

descriptives 
 /variables = x y zx zy
 /statistics = mean stddev min max range .

* As expected, the means of zx and zy = 0, and
* the standard deviations = 1.

* ======================================================================= .