How does someone keep a spreadsheet program from changing a text value to a scientific notation number?

If the csv file contains a long text field consisting of numeric characters, change the column's Data Format from "General" to "text" in the Text Import Wizard.  Note that in Microsoft Excel you must explicitly tell Excel to import the CSV file using the Text Import Wizard rather than just opening the CSV file.  Otherwise, Microsoft Excel will import the file but treat all of the columns as being "General".