Topic 2: C – Translating Coded Categorical Variables

Video (3:19)

The following video illustrates the EXTREMELY important skill of translating coded categorical variables in SPSS using the Values column in the Variable View. The following files are associated with this video.

• All Available Transcripts – SPSS Tutorials

• DATASET USED:
  • PULSE_STEP2.SAV

• SPSS DATASET CREATED:
  • PULSE_STEP3.SAV

• Menus and Steps Used:
  • Double-click on the SPSS dataset (STEP2) to open SPSS with that data loaded
  • Go to the variable view (if needed)
  • Go to the Values column and give each level of each coded categorical variable a meaningful value
    • In the Value box – type the coded value
    • In the Label box – type the translation
    • Click Add
    • Repeat for all values and then click OK
  • Save changes to your SPSS dataset using File – Save or by closing SPSS and following the prompts. We save the result as STEP3

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This document is linked from our main SPSS page under Software.