Re: Help reading a very old SPSS file?

[John F Hall]

Stephen

Can you still read the original SPSS setup files and the raw data files?  If
so, I can recreate the SPSS system (saved) files from scratch.  I need to
dig out the details of the Aylesbury firm who offered to read my mag tapes,
but meanwhile, even if all you have is the raw data and some form of
questionnaire or guide to the data layout all may not be lost.

What form were the original data?  If a rectangular matrix with rows
representing cases and columns representing variables (possibly with
multiple rows per case) can you get the data into ASCII format, or at least
into a format that SPSS can read (eg Excel)?

I'm copying this correspondence to the SPSSX list as someone with more
technical knowledge may be able to help.


John Hall
[hidden email]
www.surveyresearch.weebly.com




-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: 26 February 2011 13:15
To: [hidden email]
Subject: RE: Help reading a very old SPSS file?

Dear John

Thanks for your offer. What sort of information would be useful to
communicate to you?

Perhaps I should also say that in the intervening 2 weeks it has become
clear that the file image I have from the mag tape mostly likely isn't an
SPSS file as I'd been led to believe. So, I'm getting my colleague to go
back to the UK Data Archive to have another look at what is on the tape. And
to check whether they used any assumptions about encoding formats when
taking the stuff off.

regards
Stephen
-------------------------------------
Professor Stephen P. Jenkins  <[hidden email]>
Department of Social Policy and STICERD
London School of Economics and Political Science
Houghton Street
London WC2A 2AE, U.K.
Tel. [phone]
Survival Analysis using Stata: http://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/survival-analysis
Downloadable papers and software: http://ideas.repec.org/e/pje7.html

> -----Original Message-----
> From: John F Hall [mailto:[hidden email]]
> Sent: 25 February 2011 18:19
> To: 'Marija Norusis'; [hidden email]
> Cc: Jenkins,S
> Subject: RE: Help reading a very old SPSS file?
>
> Maria
>
> I've been away for two weeks and only just found this mail: it
> was in my
> junk mailbox (thanks to over-zealous MS Outlook on new computer).
> Good job
> I checked before emptying the box.
>
> I may be able to help, but I had a similar problem with survey
> data
> deposited at Essex when they were no longer able to read mag
> tapes from the
> Dec 10/20 and Vax at PNL.  I need to have a closer look at the
> problem and
> deal with Stephen direct, but I a few years ago I found a place
> in Aylesbury
> which offered to read/transcribe the tapes: no guarantee that
> SPSS 11 (as
> was) would be able to read the  .por or .sys files.  Essex had my
> tapes for
> almost three years and then returned them to me, but had at least
> copied
> them on to two CDs (unbelievable technological development)  I
> managed to
> retrieve some of the files by deleting the extension numbers
> and/or changing
> the file extensions, but some were irretrievably lost.  So much
> for
> archiving.  PNL dumped everything before 1986 as well, including
> some really
> interesting student surveys done to professional standards under
> my
> supervision: so much for calling itself an academic institution!
>
> Incidentally, I now have more than 400 pages of syntax-based SPSS
> tutorials
> on my site and still recommend your 1987-90 editions of the Guide
> as gold
> dust.  However, I still need to get SPSS over to this machine
> (can't get any
> response from people at SPSS, Jil Crist is still on maternity
> leave, so
> still using old Windows XP machine for that).  Now aged 70 I want
> to get the
> rest of my tutorials up and running before I pop my clogs.
>
> Belated Happy New Year
>
> John
>
> [hidden email]
> www.surveyresearch.weebly.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Marija Norusis [mailto:[hidden email]]
> Sent: 21 February 2011 15:36
> To: [hidden email]
> Cc: [hidden email]; [hidden email]
> Subject: Fwd: Help reading a very old SPSS file?
>
> Hi, Kim,
>
> Can you help Mr. Jenkins or point him to the correct person, if
> there is
> one? (I wonder if John Hall might have a copy of this data or
> know someone
> else who may?)
>
> Thanks,
> Marija
>
>
>
>
> *********** BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE  ***********
>
> On 2/21/2011 at 2:17 PM [hidden email] <[hidden email]>
> wrote:
>
> >Dear Professor Norusis
> >
> >Please may I call on your expert knowledge and experience with
> SPSS over
> >many years. I seek advice about reading a very old SPSS file
> that I have.
> >It dates from around 1981 and to the best of my knowledge was
> created on
> >an IBM-clone (Amdahl) mainframe and is in EBCDIC format.
> >
> >The file is the only remaining copy of the data from a classic
> British
> >study of the correlation of intergenerational income
> correlations, a study
> >I was a junior researcher on. The data were processed and
> analysed at two
> >universities (LSE and York). I was the data person at York and
> when I left
> >I archived my version of the study data from SPSS by writing it
> out to
> >ascii files (containing data, sps and information files).
> Recently I
> >discovered that my copy of the data file had got corrupted and
> couldn't be
> >read back into SPSS. (I still have the dat, inf and sps files.)
> So, I am
> >now trying to resurrect the file using the LSE version of the
> data -- I
> >have the file image taken from the original magnetic tape.
> >
> >Initial investigations suggest that the file is not -- as I had
> been told
> >-- an SPSS system file, at least in usual format (see hexdump
> extract
> >below my signature). Further discussions with an IT expert
> suggested that
> >perhaps an issue of 4-bit versus 8-bit coding is relevant here.
> He drew my
> >attention to the repeated "B6D" in the hexdump, which he
> suggested was
> >like some common data value or data limiter as it appears in
> almost every
> >end of the non 0 parts of hex). Sometimes 6D is written as whole
> byte (*B
> >6D) and sometimes like B6 D0, which is he suggested that the
> data are
> >written in a 4-bits format. Which is not modern-day SPSS
> practice, I
> >understand.
> >
> >LSE IT Services contacted SPSS Technical Support on my behalf,
> and their
> >response was simply that they couldn't read the file.
> >
> >Your name was suggested to me as a real SPSS expert. Please
> forgive me
> >approaching you like this, but I am having difficulty finding
> assistance
> >through other channels. I would really appreciate it if you had
> any
> >suggestions about how I might best proceed.
> >
> >With thanks,
> >
> >Best wishes
> >Stephen
> >------------------
> >Stephen P. Jenkins <[hidden email]>
> >Department of Social Policy and STICERD
> >London School of Economics and Political Science
> >Houghton Street
> >London WC2A 2AE
> >United Kingdom
> >Tel: [phone]
> >Survival Analysis Using Stata:
> >http://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/survival-analysis
> >Downloadable papers and software:
> http://ideas.repec.org/e/pje7.html
> >
> >
> >================= initial lines of a hexdump from the file
> >==================
> >
> >            |                                         |
> character
> >            |           hex representation            |
> representation
> >    address |  0 1  2 3  4 5  6 7  8 9  a b  c d  e f |
> 0123456789abcdef
> >------------+-----------------------------------------+---------
> --------
> >          0 | 0000 4000 0040 0018 0000 0000 0000 c900 |
> ..@..@.......É.
> >         10 | 0000 0000 000c 8ac6 24cb 6db6 db6d 0cf4 |
> .......Æ$Ëm¶Ûm.ô
> >         20 | 1985 bb6d b6db 6db6 db6d b6db 6db5 b8a8 |
> ..»m¶Ûm¶Ûm¶Ûmµ¸¨
> >         30 | 6e4a 2372 db6d b6db 6db6 db6d b6db 6db6 |
> nJ#rÛm¶Ûm¶Ûm¶Ûm¶
> >            |                                         |
> >         40 | db6d b6db 6db6 db6d b6db 6db6 db6d b6db |
> Ûm¶Ûm¶Ûm¶Ûm¶Ûm¶Û
> >         50 | 6db6 db6d b6db 6db6 db6d b6db 6db6 db6d |
> m¶Ûm¶Ûm¶Ûm¶Ûm¶Ûm
> >         60 | b6db 6db6 db6d b6db 6db6 db6d b6db 6db6 |
> ¶Ûm¶Ûm¶Ûm¶Ûm¶Ûm¶
> >         70 | d501 4050 cf41 9b6d b6db 6db6 db6d b6db |
> Õ.@PÏA.m¶Ûm¶Ûm¶Û
> >            |                                         |
> >         80 | 6db6 db6d b6db 6db6 db6d b6db 6db6 db6d |
> m¶Ûm¶Ûm¶Ûm¶Ûm¶Ûm
> >         90 | b6db 6db6 db6d b6db 6db6 db6d b6db 6db6 |
> ¶Ûm¶Ûm¶Ûm¶Ûm¶Ûm¶
> >         a0 | db6d b6db 6db6 db6d b6db 6db6 db6d b6db |
> Ûm¶Ûm¶Ûm¶Ûm¶Ûm¶Û
> >         b0 | 6db6 db6d ad63 13b6 db6d b6d0 0000 0000 |
> m¶Ûm­c.¶Ûm¶Ð....
> >            |                                         |
> >         c0 | 0001 4b4c 544e 54db 6db6 d000 0000 0000 |
> ..KLTNTÛm¶Ð......
> >         d0 | 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 |
> ................
> >          * |                                         |
> >         f0 | 0000 0000 0000 0004 d508 624c 16db 6d00 |
> ........Õ.bL.Ûm.
> >            |                                         |
> >        100 | 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 000a 0000 |
> ................
> >
> >             ................
> >=================
> >
> >
> >
> >Please access the attached hyperlink for an important electronic
> >communications disclaimer: http://lse.ac.uk/emailDisclaimer
> >
> >
> >
> >-----
> >No virus found in this message.
> >Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> >Version: 10.0.1204 / Virus Database: 1435/3457 - Release Date:
> 02/21/11
> >
> >
>
> *********** END FORWARDED MESSAGE  ***********

Please access the attached hyperlink for an important electronic
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