Stacking Vartibles Into a New Variable

[Jim Moffitt]

I inherited a dataset composed of 300 cases.
 
There are 3 classes of respondents and a grouping variable named "class"
that is coded with a value of 1, 2 or 3 for each case.
 
Var11 contains coded responses to a question that was only answered by
class 1 respondents. It contains 90 coded responses from the 90 class 1
respondents and 210 system missing values.
 
Var21 contains coded responses to a question that was only answered by
class 2 respondents. It contains 40 coded responses from the 40 class 2
respondents and 260 system missing values.
 
Var34 contains coded responses to a question that was only answered by
class 3 respondents. It contains 170 coded responses from the 170 class
3 respondents and 130 system missing values.
 
How do I write the syntax to combine the responses to var11, var21 and
var34 into a single variable named var44? (If I just recode var44 3
times I wind up with the 170 class 3 responses in var44 and system
missing values for everybody else).

[Maguin, Eugene]

Jim,

This should do it.

If (class eq 1) v44=v11.
If (class eq 2) v44=v21.
If (class eq 3) v44=v34.

Gene Maguin

[Siraj Ur-rehman]

Try this

Recode Var11 Var21 Var34 (sysmis=0).
Compute Var44=Var11+Var21+Var34.
Recode Var11 Var21 Var34 (0=sysmis).
Exe.

Just to make you don't have any 0 in Var11 Var21 Var34

-----Original Message-----
From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of
Jim Moffitt
Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 4:49 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Stacking Vartibles Into a New Variable

I inherited a dataset composed of 300 cases.

There are 3 classes of respondents and a grouping variable named "class"
that is coded with a value of 1, 2 or 3 for each case.

Var11 contains coded responses to a question that was only answered by
class 1 respondents. It contains 90 coded responses from the 90 class 1
respondents and 210 system missing values.

Var21 contains coded responses to a question that was only answered by
class 2 respondents. It contains 40 coded responses from the 40 class 2
respondents and 260 system missing values.

Var34 contains coded responses to a question that was only answered by
class 3 respondents. It contains 170 coded responses from the 170 class
3 respondents and 130 system missing values.

How do I write the syntax to combine the responses to var11, var21 and
var34 into a single variable named var44? (If I just recode var44 3
times I wind up with the 170 class 3 responses in var44 and system
missing values for everybody else).

[Jim Moffitt]

Thanks, Gene. This is exactly what I needed.

-----Original Message-----
From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of
Gene Maguin
Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 3:54 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: Stacking Vartibles Into a New Variable

Jim,

This should do it.

If (class eq 1) v44=v11.
If (class eq 2) v44=v21.
If (class eq 3) v44=v34.

Gene Maguin

[Jim Moffitt]

Thanks, Siraj, but maybe my description wasn't clear. Your code would
replace all the system missing values with a zero. I'd like to preserve
the system missing values where they are appropriate.

-----Original Message-----
From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of
Siraj Ur-rehman
Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 3:58 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: Stacking Vartibles Into a New Variable

Try this

Recode Var11 Var21 Var34 (sysmis=0).
Compute Var44=Var11+Var21+Var34.
Recode Var11 Var21 Var34 (0=sysmis).
Exe.

Just to make you don't have any 0 in Var11 Var21 Var34

-----Original Message-----
From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of
Jim Moffitt
Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 4:49 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Stacking Vartibles Into a New Variable

I inherited a dataset composed of 300 cases.

There are 3 classes of respondents and a grouping variable named "class"
that is coded with a value of 1, 2 or 3 for each case.

Var11 contains coded responses to a question that was only answered by
class 1 respondents. It contains 90 coded responses from the 90 class 1
respondents and 210 system missing values.

Var21 contains coded responses to a question that was only answered by
class 2 respondents. It contains 40 coded responses from the 40 class 2
respondents and 260 system missing values.

Var34 contains coded responses to a question that was only answered by
class 3 respondents. It contains 170 coded responses from the 170 class
3 respondents and 130 system missing values.

How do I write the syntax to combine the responses to var11, var21 and
var34 into a single variable named var44? (If I just recode var44 3
times I wind up with the 170 class 3 responses in var44 and system
missing values for everybody else).

[Richard Ristow]

At 04:54 PM 6/29/2006, Gene Maguin wrote:

>This should do it.
>
>If (class eq 1) v44=v11.
>If (class eq 2) v44=v21.
>If (class eq 3) v44=v34.

It should, indeed. I'd say, that's the way to do it.

But, just to be 'cute', there's

COMPUTE V44 = MAX(v11,v21,v34).

Now, if a value is filled in that shouldn't be, say v34 has a value for
a class-1 respondent, Gene's code handles it about as reasonably as
possible, and mine won't.

But, hey, coding tricks are fun.

-Onward,
  Richard