SPSS

SPSS started as a computer program in the 1960s, standing for "Statistical Package for the Social Sciences". SPSS is (probably) the most widely used program for statistical analysis by social scientists, and is also used by market researchers, health researchers, survey companies, government, education researchers, and others.

The program SPSS is sold by a company, also called SPSS. This is a little confusing, since the company SPSS sell a wide range of software for statistical analysis - including, but not limited to, SPSS the program.

SPSS no longer stands for "Statistical Package for the Social Sciences" - it doesn't stand for anything any more.

Links

http://www.spss.com - the SPSS Inc Homepage
http://www.spssusers.co.uk - SPSS User group homepage
http://pages.infinit.net/rlevesqu/ - Raynald Levesque's SPSS Tools - support material for SPSS users.