Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Clicking in the cell allows you to
change the number of decimals that
are displayed in the data file.
Figure A5 Variable View
with number of decimals being specified.
A.7.2 DECIMAL SPECIFICATION
In Figure A5, we are in the process of changing the decimal specification.
For
subid
,
gender
, and
group
, we use whole number codes rather than
decimal values. By clicking inside of the cell, you are able to access the
up and down arrows to change the value shown; you can also just double
click on the old value and type the new value in its place.
A.7.3 VALUE LABELS
We recommend that you deal only with numerical data in your data file
if you are just starting to use SPSS. Thus, categorical variables need to be
assigned arbitrary number codes. For example, our
gender
variable will
have codes of 1, 2, and 9 corresponding to the following information:
1
=
Female participant
2
=
Male participant
9
=
Missing information
The wording assigned to these codes is accomplished in just a few steps
as follows:
Click in the
Va l u e s
cell for
gender
to produce a little “dialog box
icon.” This is shown in Figure A6.1.
Clicking on the little box icon produces a dialog box as shown in
Figure A6.2. Type the numerical value in the
Va l u e
panel, type the
appropriate
Va l u e l ab e l
,andclick
Add
to register the value with
SPSS. In Figure A6.3, we have typed in the information for
female
and have clicked
Add
.
Type the information for the remaining codes. After clicking the last
Add
, the window should resemble Figure A6.4. Click
OK
to return
to the
Va r i ab l e Vi ew
of the data file.
Save
your data file.
