cases to variables, index variable needed?
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cases to variables, index variable needed?
 
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It has been some years since I have worked with SPSS, so I need to apologize in advance if my question resembles a newbie question.
I am using SPSS 18 for Windows. I have approximately 4800 cases in the raw file. I was able to download a long list of names, cities and states in the following structure: John Doe Portland Oregon Mary Sanchez San Francisco California Sid Smith Seattle Washington I need to get the data into the following structure: name city state John Doe Portland Oregon Mary Sanchez San Francisco California Sid Smith Seattle Washington I have looked into "cases to variables" and it appears I need an index variable. With the index variable, the original data might look like: 1 John Doe 1 Portland 1 Oregon 2 Mary Sanchez 2 San Francisco 2 California 3 Sid Smith 3 Seattle 3 Washington Can someone please give me some pointers on how to create that kind of repeating pattern for an index variable? Thank you very much, Scott ===================== To manage your subscription to SPSSX-L, send a message to [hidden email] (not to SPSSX-L), with no body text except the command. To leave the list, send the command SIGNOFF SPSSX-L For a list of commands to manage subscriptions, send the command INFO REFCARD |
Re: cases to variables, index variable needed?
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Hi Scott You could do this using the DATA LIST command when you define the data layout, telling it there are 3 records per case. Use RECORDS = 3. Regards, Adrian -- Adrian Barnett | "It's always the trombone player" | (Faye Dunaway in 'The Arrangement') Email: [hidden email]
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Re: cases to variables, index variable needed?
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Scott If it’s a while since you used SPSS, you might also have a look at the tutorials on my page Block 1: From questionnaire to SPSS saved file http://surveyresearch.weebly.com/block-1-from-questionnaire-to-spss-saved-file.html John F Hall (Mr) [Retired academic survey researcher] Email: [hidden email] Website: www.surveyresearch.weebly.com SPSS start page: www.surveyresearch.weebly.com/1-survey-analysis-workshop From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Adrian Barnett Hi Scott You could do this using the DATA LIST command when you define the data layout, telling it there are 3 records per case. Use RECORDS = 3. Regards,
===================== To manage your subscription to SPSSX-L, send a message to [hidden email] (not to SPSSX-L), with no body text except the command. To leave the list, send the command SIGNOFF SPSSX-L For a list of commands to manage subscriptions, send the command INFO REFCARD |
Re: cases to variables, index variable needed?
Administrator
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In reply to this post by Scott Dixon
I don't have SPSS on this machine, so cannot test right now. But I think that the following will work:
COMPUTE Index = SUM(LAG(Index),MOD($CASENUM,3) EQ 1). FORMATS Index (F5.0). DESCRIPTIVES Index. This assumes you always have exactly 3 rows of data per person with the data sorted appropriately. HTH.
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Bruce Weaver bweaver@lakeheadu.ca http://sites.google.com/a/lakeheadu.ca/bweaver/ "When all else fails, RTFM." PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING: 1. My Hotmail account is not monitored regularly. To send me an e-mail, please use the address shown above. 2. The SPSSX Discussion forum on Nabble is no longer linked to the SPSSX-L listserv administered by UGA (https://listserv.uga.edu/). |
Re: cases to variables, index variable needed?
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Was your data stored in such a way that you could just use DATA LIST TO read 3 lines (RECORDS for a case?
Art Kendall
Social Research Consultants |
Re: cases to variables, index variable needed?
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Administrator
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Adrian made the same suggestion earlier in the thread. But nowadays, if one uses the GUI to generate a draft of the command syntax, they'll get a GET DATA command rather than DATA LIST. But it also allows one to read multiple lines of data per case. E.g., assuming the OP's sample data are in a file called rawdata.txt:
PRESERVE. SET DECIMAL DOT. GET DATA /TYPE=TXT /FILE="C:\Temp\rawdata.txt" /ENCODING='Locale' /FIXCASE=3 /ARRANGEMENT=FIXED /FIRSTCASE=1 /VARIABLES= /1 Name 0-24 A25 /2 City 0-24 A25 /3 State 0-24 A25. RESTORE. ALTER TYPE ALL (A=AMIN). LIST. Alternatively, if the data are already in a .SAV file, and if it is guaranteed that there are 3 rows per ID, with the values ordered as Name, City, State, then one could do something simple like this: STRING Name City State (A50). COMPUTE Rec3 = MOD($CASENUM,3) EQ 0. EXECUTE. DO IF Rec3. - COMPUTE Name = LAG(StringVar,2). - COMPUTE City = LAG(StringVar). - COMPUTE State = StringVar. END IF. ALTER TYPE ALL (A=AMIN). ************************. SELECT IF Rec3. ************************. LIST Name to State. But be careful with that SELECT IF line, as it will get rid of 2/3 of the cases. Using this code on the OP's sample data gives the following output: Name City State John Doe Portland Oregon Mary Sanchez San Francisco California Sid Smith Seattle Washington HTH.
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Bruce Weaver bweaver@lakeheadu.ca http://sites.google.com/a/lakeheadu.ca/bweaver/ "When all else fails, RTFM." PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING: 1. My Hotmail account is not monitored regularly. To send me an e-mail, please use the address shown above. 2. The SPSSX Discussion forum on Nabble is no longer linked to the SPSSX-L listserv administered by UGA (https://listserv.uga.edu/). |
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