possible SPSS bug?

[Hoover, Matthew]

Hey everyone,

 

I'm using SPSS 14.02 and something annoying keeps happening and I don't
know what to do about it!  Whenever I sort data by the ID field, I
visually see duplicate IDs and hundreds of identical cases (from the
data view window, just looking at the raw cases).  Then, whenever I run
frequencies or create a variable to flag for duplicate cases, I'm not
finding any of them!  It is telling me these are separate records
without any duplication.

 

Then, when I save the data file and open it back up, I see that these
are not duplicate cases at all and the view from the data window is in
error.  Why is what I see in the data view not the real values?  

 

Somehow, the data window is repeating cases and it appears as if there
are massive duplicates that are not actually duplicates at all.  With
small datasets, my first pass is usually a visual inspection for
duplicate cases and now I can't trust my eyes!!  Has anyone else had
this problem?  Is there a fix somewhere?

 

Thanks,

 

Matt

[Beadle, ViAnn]

This sounds like a repaint problem to me. Have you tried resizing the window?

-----Original Message-----
From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Hoover, Matthew
Sent: Monday, October 16, 2006 12:47 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: possible SPSS bug?

Hey everyone,



I'm using SPSS 14.02 and something annoying keeps happening and I don't
know what to do about it!  Whenever I sort data by the ID field, I
visually see duplicate IDs and hundreds of identical cases (from the
data view window, just looking at the raw cases).  Then, whenever I run
frequencies or create a variable to flag for duplicate cases, I'm not
finding any of them!  It is telling me these are separate records
without any duplication.



Then, when I save the data file and open it back up, I see that these
are not duplicate cases at all and the view from the data window is in
error.  Why is what I see in the data view not the real values?



Somehow, the data window is repeating cases and it appears as if there
are massive duplicates that are not actually duplicates at all.  With
small datasets, my first pass is usually a visual inspection for
duplicate cases and now I can't trust my eyes!!  Has anyone else had
this problem?  Is there a fix somewhere?



Thanks,



Matt

[Ted Drawneek]

At 06:47 a.m. 17/10/2006, Hoover, Matthew wrote:

>Hey everyone,
>
>
>
>I'm using SPSS 14.02 and something annoying keeps happening and I don't
>know what to do about it!  Whenever I sort data by the ID field, I
>visually see duplicate IDs and hundreds of identical cases (from the
>data view window, just looking at the raw cases).  Then, whenever I run
>frequencies or create a variable to flag for duplicate cases, I'm not
>finding any of them!  It is telling me these are separate records
>without any duplication.

Is the ID variable a string?  If so, is the Data Editor column wide
enough to show the entire string?

[Hoover, Matthew]

Hi Ted,

The ID is a numeric variable, but that is just the variable that I
sorted the data on to find duplicate cases.  All of the variables for
the "ghost records" appear to be repeating the same information, not
just the ID.  (In other words, race, age, gender, id, name, etc. repeats
hundreds of times like it is multiple/ duplicate records).

-----Original Message-----
From: Ted Drawneek [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Monday, October 16, 2006 4:49 PM
To: Hoover, Matthew; [hidden email]
Subject: Re: possible SPSS bug?

Is the ID variable a string?  If so, is the Data Editor column wide
enough to show the entire string?