GPAQ analysis using SPSS - description of output

The first frequency table shows the scale scores for the six scales - Access, Receptionists, Continuity of care, Communication, Enablement/Nursing and Overall Satisfaction. Three of these scales (Access, Communication and Enablement/Nursing) are calculated based on more than one question. The national benchmark figures currently are split down to individual questions, so you cannot compare these three scores to the national benchmarks. However, you can use these scale scores to compare results between practices.

The next sets of tables under the titles "Means" (which there are three of), are looking to see if there is any significant differences in these scale scores caused by ethnicity, age and sex. Any values of less than 0.05 in the significance column of the ANOVA table indicates a significant difference. By then looking at the Report table above the ANOVA table, you can see which direction this significant difference goes in.

Following this, there are three frequency tables that show the individual question scores for scales that are based on more than one question (i.e., Access, Communication and Enablement/Nursing). You can compare these scores with the national benchmark figures, along with the scale scores based on individual questions (Receptionists, Continuity of care and Overall satisfaction) from the very first table. You may need to look at the variable labels in the main database to figure out what the output names refer to.

Finally, the frequency distribution tables for each question are listed below this. These have been included as practices are often most interested in this data.

If you want to separate this output by Practice ID or GP ID you can do this in the main database by selecting "Split File" from the "Data" menu. You can then select "Organise output by groups" based on Practice/GP ID. If you use the syntax then, it will produce the output separated for each Practice/GP.

If you want more information about how the scale scores are actually calculated, please refer to Appendix 2 of the GPAQ manual.