The easiest way to import SPSS files into R is to use the read_sav() function from the haven library.
This function uses the following basic syntax:
data 'C:/Users/User_Name/file_name.sav')
The following step-by-step example shows how to import a SPSS file into R in practice.
Step 1: Download a SPSS File
For this example, we’ll download the SPSS file called healthdata.sav from this page.
Step 2: Install haven Package
Next, we’ll install the haven package in R:
install.packages('haven')
We’ll then load the package:
library(haven)
Step 3: Import the SPSS File
Next, we’ll use the read_sav() function to import the SPSS file:
data C:/Users/bob/Downloads/healthdata.sav')
Once we’ve imported the SPSS file, we can get a quick summary of the data:
#view class of data
class(data)
[1] "tbl_df" "tbl" "data.frame"
#display dimensions of data frame
dim(data)
[1] 185 3
#view first six rows of data
head(data)
CD EXERC HEALTH
1 1 [ordered] 3 6
2 2 [did not order] 3 7
3 2 [did not order] 5 6
4 2 [did not order] 5 3
5 1 [ordered] 5 6
6 2 [did not order] 2 3
We can see that the file imported successfully as a data frame and that it has 185 rows and 3 columns.
Additional Resources
The following tutorials explain how to import other file types into R:
How to Import CSV Files into R
How to Import Excel Files into R
How to Import SAS Files into R
How to Import .dta Files into R