SigmaPlot Technical Support

Types of Questions SPSS Science Technical Support Can Answer
"What does this mean ... "

• Clarify SigmaPlot definitions, assumptions, computational methods and output presentation.
• Identify procedures that will produce particular statistical analyses which are provided in the manual/help documents.
• Clarify documentation examples which may not be clear or may be ambiguous. Expand on the example or definitions if necessary to comprehensively define a concept.

In addition to the above, Technical Support has a fundamental responsibility to the customer to help use what is in the documentation to get a specific task done by expanding on what is documented and giving an example of how to do it. This does not include major data restructuring or getting SPSS to do something in a complicated way that another module or third party product will do simply.

Types of Problems SPSS Science Technical Support Cannot Address

It is not the responsibility of Technical Support to show the customer how to manipulate and plot/analyze their data in SigmaPlot or go beyond the standard documented examples to provide sophisticated programming solutions.

• Writing original syntax for a customer using the customer's data.
• Debugging customer written macros, scripts or input programs.
• Writing elaborate programs, even if using sample data, which produce results far beyond those available through the standard SPSS procedures.
• Making statistical recommendations for the proper analyses.
• Consultation regarding the appropriateness of various statistical procedures
• Explaining basic statistical concepts to a customer because the customer has no statistical training and has not read the manuals.

Situations such as the above will be referred to the Consulting Department. Detailed examples follow.

What products are supported by SPSS Science Technical Support

SigmaPlot, SigmaPlot Enzyme Kinetics module, SigmaStat, SigmaScan Pro, SigmaGel, and SigmaPlot Electrophysiology module

What to do before contacting SPSS Science Technical Support

In general SPSS Technical Support can answer 80-85% of all the calls that come into the department on the first contact. However there are a few things that you can do to help us out:

1. Read the manual. A large number of the questions we receive can be answered by reading the manual.
2. Check the help files. We have added numerous sections that explain frequently asked questions.
3. Carefully read the error message. Most error messages will indicate which command or command lines caused the error. Some will actually point to the offending text.

When contacting Technical Support, please provide the following:

1. Your SPSS ID or serial number available when you call. The Support Representatives must have this information in order to verify your eligibility for Technical Support.
2. The product name with version number (e.g. SigmaPlot 5.05) and the release of the operating system (e.g. Windows 98, NT etc.) you are running on.
3. If appropriate, the error number and message, as well as the command file that produced the error message and the resulting output.

 SPSS Technical Support Worldwide: http://www.spss.com/tech/techworld.html

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SPSS Science Training Contact: 800-841-0056