Le Sphinx V5 Plus² software logo
Le Sphinx V5 Plus² — survey and statistical analysis software

In academic research, programme evaluation and market research contexts across francophone Africa, Le Sphinx has established itself as one of the reference tools for survey processing. Its V5 Plus² version is the most complete edition, combining ease of use with analytical power.

What is Le Sphinx V5 Plus²?

Le Sphinx is a French survey and statistical analysis software developed by Le Sphinx Développement. Since its creation in the 1980s, it has become a reference tool in universities, research institutes and non-governmental organisations, particularly in the French-speaking world.

The V5 Plus² version is the most advanced edition in the range. It handles the entire survey lifecycle in a single software environment: questionnaire design, data collection and entry, statistical processing, and report production.

Who is it designed for?

  • Master's and doctoral students in social sciences, economics, public health, geography
  • Researchers and academics
  • Monitoring & Evaluation managers in NGOs and international agencies
  • Research officers in public administrations and consulting firms
  • Market research professionals
It is accessible to non-statisticians, while offering advanced features that satisfy experienced analysts.

The main modules

Module 1 — Questionnaire design

Supports a wide range of question types: single-select closed questions, multi-select, open text, numeric, date, rating grids, Likert scales, and ranking questions. Conditional branching (skip logic) is configured through a graphical interface without any programming.

Module 2 — Data entry and import

Data can be entered via a direct input grid, imported from Excel (the most common method for field-collected data), or collected through an online questionnaire. Built-in consistency checks catch out-of-range values and missing mandatory responses.

Module 3 — Statistical analyses

Descriptive univariate statistics

  • Frequency tables — response distribution with counts and percentages
  • Mean, median, standard deviation, min, max
  • Histograms, bar charts, pie charts

Descriptive bivariate statistics

  • Cross-tabulations — contingency tables crossing two variables
  • Chi-square test (χ²) — independence between categorical variables
  • Pearson correlation — association between two quantitative variables
  • Student's t-test — comparison of means between two groups
  • ANOVA — comparison of means across more than two groups

Multivariate analyses

  • Principal Component Analysis (PCA)
  • Correspondence Analysis (CA) and Multiple CA (MCA)
  • Hierarchical clustering (CAH) — grouping respondents into homogeneous profiles
  • Linear and logistic regression
  • Lexical analysis — word frequency, word clouds, verbatim categorisation for open questions

Each analysis is presented through a step-by-step assistant. The software also generates automatic textual interpretation of results — a major advantage for non-statisticians.

Module 4 — Report production

Export results to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF or HTML directly from the software.

Key differentiating features of V5 Plus²

  • Fully French interface — all menus, assistants and outputs are in French, unlike SPSS or R.
  • Guided step-by-step approach — no need to know statistical syntax.
  • Automatic interpretation — the software generates textual comments for each analysis.
  • Weighted data processing — correction coefficients for non-representative samples.
  • SPSS compatibility — import and export in .sav format.

Typical use cases

  • Theses and dissertations in social sciences, health, economics or geography
  • Programme evaluations in NGOs and development agencies
  • Customer, patient and public service user satisfaction surveys
  • Market research: segmentation, product testing, preference analysis
  • Household surveys and socio-economic data analysis

Comparison with other software

  • vs. SPSS: More powerful for advanced statistics and also has a French interface, but its licence cost is very high and learning curve steeper. Le Sphinx is more accessible for non-statisticians.
  • vs. Excel: Excel allows pivot tables but lacks integrated statistical tests and automated reporting.
  • vs. R: R is free and extremely powerful but requires programming. Le Sphinx needs no coding skills.
  • vs. KoboToolbox: KoboToolbox excels at mobile data collection. Le Sphinx takes over for in-depth statistical analysis after data export.
In practice, Le Sphinx V5 Plus² and KoboToolbox are often used together: KoboToolbox for field collection, Le Sphinx for statistical analysis after data export.

Video tutorial — Import Excel data and run cross-tabulations

In this tutorial published on the Data Solution channel, I show you how to import data from an Excel file into Le Sphinx V5 Plus², then produce frequency tables and cross-tabulations to analyse your survey results.

Import Excel data into Le Sphinx, frequency tables and cross-tabs · Data Solution channel

For further technical demonstrations on Le Sphinx (statistical tests, multivariate analyses, automated report production), see all tutorials on the Data Solution channel.

Download Le Sphinx V5 Plus²

You can download Le Sphinx V5 Plus² via the following MediaFire link:

What Le Sphinx does not do

  • Not designed for mobile collection — use KoboToolbox or ODK Collect for offline field data collection, then import into Le Sphinx for analysis.
  • No dynamic dashboards — unlike Power BI or Tableau, outputs are static documents.
  • Not suited for very large databases — for tens of thousands of respondents and hundreds of variables, R or Python will be more appropriate.
  • Commercial licence — Le Sphinx V5 Plus² is paid software. Academic licences are available at reduced rates.

Conclusion

Le Sphinx V5 Plus² is a remarkably complete software for anyone working with quantitative surveys in a French-speaking context. Its French interface, guided approach and richness of statistical analyses make it a solid choice for both beginners and experienced analysts.

Its complementarity with mobile collection tools (KoboToolbox, ODK) and visualisation software (Power BI, Tableau) gives it a natural place in a complete data processing chain.