I assume from this that:
Each course is identified by a number or string
The course variable imports as a string that contains up to 18 course
responses delimited by some character (probably a space or comma)
Given these assumptions, you will need to "parse" the string to separate
out the individual responses. The parsing algorithm will depend on how
the string is laid out. For example, assuming every response (including
last) has a trailing space, the code might be something like:
/* the following checks for each of 18 course strings (c) and assigns 0
or 1 to the corresponding expanded course variable */
DO REPEAT
x = x1 to x18
/c = 'C1 ' 'C2 ' 'C3 ' . . . 'C18 ' .
+ COMPUTE x = (INDEX(strvar,c) > 0) .
END REPEAT .
You will need to clarify your question if this does not help.
Dennis Deck, PhD
RMC Research Corporation
[hidden email]
-----Original Message-----
From: Martin Sherman [mailto:
[hidden email]]
Sent: Friday, March 02, 2007 11:44 AM
Subject: Exporting file from Blackboard to Excel to SPSS
Dear List: I just received an Excel Data file that has a variable which
includes up to 18 responses. That is, students had to indicate which
courses they took from a list of 18 (thus a student could have eighteen
responses on this variable). When exported from Blackboard to Excel the
list of courses can occupy over 1000 columns. When importing to SPSS one
is only able to see the first 50 columns within the data view. What I
really need is a way to expand the responses so that each potential
course that a student took occupies its own variable. Thus what I want
is 18 variables from which I can then work with. Any suggestions. I
recognize that this is a bit confusing. It would have been better if the
investigator had consulted with me before hand and I would not have this
problem. For example if one uses SurveyMonkey one can import a data
file which Expands the potential responses where one allows multiple
responses. Thanks. martin sherman
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