For a codebook that doesn’t already exist, my suggestion would be to
import from a spreadsheet or CSV file which has been formatted using
specified column names for the variable name, label, type, etc.
*From:* Pspp-users
<pspp-users-bounces+espinello=rpmconsulting....@gnu.org> *On Behalf Of
*'Alan Mead'
*Sent:* Friday, January 21, 2022 11:10 AM
*To:* pspp-users@gnu.org
*Subject:* Re: Import Codebook
I agree. This is a good trick when you have an existing SAV file with
the same codebook, but I don't see how this reduces the effort for the
use case where you are importing 200 columns of unlabeled data?
-Alan
On 1/21/2022 12:54 PM, Elio Spinello wrote:
If memory serves me correctly, there is a Copy Data Properties
tool that allows you to select another dataset or unopened SAV
file and then copy the data properties from it into the active
dataset.
Or you can copy and paste portions of the datasheet from one
dataset to another.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZakhRd4aDAQ
I would think that one of those approaches would probably be the
easiest to work with for both developers and users.
Elio Spinello
*Elio Spinello, EdD*
*RPM Consulting, LLC*
*27943 Seco Canyon Rd #320*
*Santa Clarita, CA 91350-3872*
Office: 818-831-7607
Cell: 818-570-3546
*From:* Pspp-users
<pspp-users-bounces+espinello=rpmconsulting....@gnu.org>
<mailto:pspp-users-bounces+espinello=rpmconsulting....@gnu.org>
*On Behalf Of *Ben Pfaff
*Sent:* Friday, January 21, 2022 10:29 AM
*To:* Alan Mead <am...@alanmead.org> <mailto:am...@alanmead.org>
*Cc:* pspp-users <pspp-users@gnu.org> <mailto:pspp-users@gnu.org>
*Subject:* Re: Import Codebook
If PSPP were to add a feature to import a codebook, what format
should it be able to import it from?
On Fri, Jan 21, 2022 at 10:20 AM <am...@alanmead.org> wrote:
Yes, but variable labels aren't always that big a deal; value
labels can be more critical. You should rename/label, but it's
fairly easy to remember that V3 is sex. Good luck, however,
remembering what the five responses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 mean...
Elio ninja'd me last night because I spent a few minutes
googling whether there was a way to import a code book. I
don't think there is, and that's a shame. Labeling data is so
important and such an improvement in the SAV file format
(over, say, SQL or CSV).
I guess the other way to deal with this is to not use codes,
in favor of response strings, in the dataset. So, the Sex
variable might have values: 'male', 'female', 'non-binary',
etc. And I guess if you had your labels in a spreadsheet you
could probably arrange to use INDEX/MATCH to replace the codes
with response strings that would be clear to anyone looking at
the data. Of course, that solves the labeling in a way, but
when you import your data into PSPP, you then have to write a
bunch of syntax to change those strings (of numeric variables
like Likert responses) into numeric values to be used in
analysis. And, I guess, ideally you'd want those numeric
variables to have sensible value labels.
-Alan
On 1/21/2022 11:50 AM, jhwh...@techwriteinc.com wrote:
If I understand the issue correctly, variable labels are
not being installed when importing some Excel files into
PSPP. Is this correct?
Take care,
John
___________________________
Email: jhwh...@techwriteinc.com
*From:* Pspp-users
<pspp-users-bounces+jhwhite=techwriteinc....@gnu.org>
<mailto:pspp-users-bounces+jhwhite=techwriteinc....@gnu.org>
*On Behalf Of *Alan Mead
*Sent:* Thursday, January 20, 2022 9:23 PM
*To:* Marek Ludwig <marek.lud...@fh-potsdam.de>
<mailto:marek.lud...@fh-potsdam.de>; pspp-users@gnu.org
*Cc:* Katja Behrndt <katja.behr...@fh-potsdam.de>
<mailto:katja.behr...@fh-potsdam.de>
*Subject:* Re: Import Codebook
I find applying labels to be very time-consuming, so maybe
that's bad news for you. Maybe someone else will have a
great idea.
But to make it as quick as possible, I'd recommend that
you generate syntax and execute that syntax. I think that
will be MUCH quicker than individually clicking and
editing these values using the graphical user interface.
A lot of people are scared of syntax, but it's not so
hard. An added advantage of doing it this way is that you
easily fix an error by fixing the syntax and re-running it.
Also, if you have the information in a spreadsheet, I
would try to generate the syntax using formulas in the
spreadsheet. If column A contained the spss variable name
(maybe "V1") and column B contained the variable label,
then into cell C1 I would insert:
="variable labels "&A1&" '"&B1&"'."
(Note that there are single quotes, inside the double
quotes, around B1 because it's a string.)
If A1 = V1 and B1 = Beschriftung then this would generate:
variable labels V1 'Beschriftung'.
And if you paste that into a syntax window, add the line
"Execute." and run it, it would label this variable. You
could paste 200 rows of Column C, add "Execute." and
create the 200 variable labels very easily.
The value labels could be done similarly but I'd have to
see the spreadsheet to devise the correct formula(s)...
This page describes the syntax:
http://www.statsmakemecry.com/smmctheblog/using-syntax-to-assign-variable-labels-and-value-labels-in-s.html
This includes my solution and suggests an alternative
(that may not work with PSPP):
https://www.reddit.com/r/spss/comments/mobw0z/import_excel_file_while_maintaining_variable/
Here are the relevant PSPP manual pages:
https://www.gnu.org/software/pspp/manual/html_node/VALUE-LABELS.html
https://www.gnu.org/software/pspp/manual/html_node/VARIABLE-LABELS.html
https://www.gnu.org/software/pspp/manual/html_node/MISSING-VALUES.html
-Alan
On 1/19/2022 9:01 AM, Marek Ludwig wrote:
Dear All,
we have read in a CSV dataset that we had generated
from an Excel file. Unfortunately, the codebook got
lost in the process, so that the columns for
labels("Beschriftung"), value labels ("Wertelabels")
and missing values ("Fehlende Werte") are empty. Since
our dataset has over 200 variables, filling them in
manually would be very time consuming. Is there an
efficient, faster solution to read in the codebook or
fill in these columns?
I would be very grateful for a hint!
Thanks a lot,
Marek
--
Alan D. Mead, Ph.D.
President, Talent Algorithms Inc.
science + technology = better workers
https://talalg.com
Hofstadter's Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when
you
take into account Hofstadter's Law.
--
Alan D. Mead, Ph.D.
President, Talent Algorithms Inc.
science + technology = better workers
https://talalg.com
Going was easy. Keep on going was hard.
-- Ursula K. Le Guin
--
Alan D. Mead, Ph.D.
President, Talent Algorithms Inc.
science + technology = better workers
https://talalg.com
Going was easy. Keep on going was hard.
-- Ursula K. Le Guin
