Trying to lock one column so only I can change it

[Jennifer Jones]

I have a data set that that multiple people will be making entries on.
While I do want others to make their entries there are certain columns that
I will be setting up in advance that I do not want them to accidently make
any changes to.

How can I permanently lock individual columns so that only I am able to
make changes to them. I am working with a very large data set and minor
mistakes could result in major headaches down the road.

[Beadle, ViAnn]

How are people editing this data--using SPSS? If so, there's no way to do this in SPSS.

You can lock variables in SPSS Data Entry which is a separate product.

-----Original Message-----
From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Jennifer Jones
Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2007 1:46 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Trying to lock one column so only I can change it

I have a data set that that multiple people will be making entries on.
While I do want others to make their entries there are certain columns that
I will be setting up in advance that I do not want them to accidently make
any changes to.

How can I permanently lock individual columns so that only I am able to
make changes to them. I am working with a very large data set and minor
mistakes could result in major headaches down the road.

[Richard Ristow]

At 03:45 PM 4/25/2007, Jennifer Jones wrote:

>I have a data set that that multiple people will be making entries on.
>While I do want others to make their entries there are certain columns
>that I will be setting up in advance that I do not want them to
>accidently make any changes to.

As ViAnn Beadle said, there's no way in the Data Editor in base SPSS.

What I'd do, myself, is make a separate copy of the dataset. I assume
there's a unique key for the records as they are; if not, I'd create
one. Then I'd let the others enter and edit as much as they liked. And
finally, I'd merge (MATCH FILES) the original and the data. From the
files that had been edited, I'd keep only the key and whatever
variables they were allowed to edit; from the original file, I'd keep
only the variables that they should NOT have edited.

A little checking for mismatches will tell you if anybody altered a
key, or added or deleted records.

Keep the unedited file PERMANENTLY, so at least you can recover from
any disaster in the data entry. And in principle (though not easily)
see exactly what data was entered or changed.

If there are "multiple people" doing entry, I'd make a separate dataset
copy for each. On the merge, use ADD FILES to catenate the copies from
different people first, with /IN= variables indicating the person who'd
worked on that dataset, and then do the MATCH FILES. Unfortunately,
that's a little tricky, as it's hard to identify which records have
been changed in each edited dataset. (As has frequently been complained
of, there's no file-comparison tool in SPSS, at least not yet, except
in the Data Entry product.) You may be able to give each person doing
entry a restricted set of records to work on, if you've a way of
knowing ahead of time who's assigned to add data to which batch of
records.

-Good luck to you,
  Richard

[Albert-Jan Roskam]

Isn't it MUCH easier to use some format that can be
used by MS Access/Excel as well as SPSS (e.g. .dbf or
.xls) and use validation criteria and locking in those
Office applications?

Cheers!!
Albert-Jan

--- Richard Ristow <[hidden email]> wrote:

> At 03:45 PM 4/25/2007, Jennifer Jones wrote:
>
> >I have a data set that that multiple people will be
> making entries on.
> >While I do want others to make their entries there
> are certain columns
> >that I will be setting up in advance that I do not
> want them to
> >accidently make any changes to.
>
> As ViAnn Beadle said, there's no way in the Data
> Editor in base SPSS.
>
> What I'd do, myself, is make a separate copy of the
> dataset. I assume
> there's a unique key for the records as they are; if
> not, I'd create
> one. Then I'd let the others enter and edit as much
> as they liked. And
> finally, I'd merge (MATCH FILES) the original and
> the data. From the
> files that had been edited, I'd keep only the key
> and whatever
> variables they were allowed to edit; from the
> original file, I'd keep
> only the variables that they should NOT have edited.
>
> A little checking for mismatches will tell you if
> anybody altered a
> key, or added or deleted records.
>
> Keep the unedited file PERMANENTLY, so at least you
> can recover from
> any disaster in the data entry. And in principle
> (though not easily)
> see exactly what data was entered or changed.
>
> If there are "multiple people" doing entry, I'd make
> a separate dataset
> copy for each. On the merge, use ADD FILES to
> catenate the copies from
> different people first, with /IN= variables
> indicating the person who'd
> worked on that dataset, and then do the MATCH FILES.
> Unfortunately,
> that's a little tricky, as it's hard to identify
> which records have
> been changed in each edited dataset. (As has
> frequently been complained
> of, there's no file-comparison tool in SPSS, at
> least not yet, except
> in the Data Entry product.) You may be able to give
> each person doing
> entry a restricted set of records to work on, if
> you've a way of
> knowing ahead of time who's assigned to add data to
> which batch of
> records.
>
> -Good luck to you,
>   Richard
>

Cheers!
Albert-Jan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Did you know that 87.166253% of all statistics claim a precision of results that is not justified by the method employed? [HELMUT RICHTER]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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