ARCHIVED: In SPSS, how do I collapse and recode a continuous variable?
In SPSS, you have two options for collapsing and recoding continuous
variables: the IF
command and the RECODE
command.
The IF
command
Suppose you have a variable score
that you need to
collapse into five distinct categories in a new variable
grade
:
IF (score > 90) grade=4. IF (score <=90 AND score >= 80) grade=3. IF (score <80 AND score >=70) grade=2. IF (score <70 AND score >=60) grade=1. IF (score <60) grade=0.
These conditions break the variable score
into five
categories. For example, scores ranging from 80 to 90 are coded as 3
in the new variable.
The RECODE
command
For the example above, you would use the following:
RECODE score (80 thru 90=3) (70 thru 80=2) (60 thru 70=1) (LOWEST thru 60=0) (90 thru HIGHEST=4) INTO grade. EXECUTE.
Important: The order of the statements matters; that
is, SPSS manipulates the statements in order. Therefore, all subjects
having values between 80 and 90 in the variable score
will have the value 3 in the new variable grade
, and all
subjects having values between 70 and 80 (except 80, since it's
defined in the previous statement) will have the value 2 in the new
variable grade
, and so forth.
If you have questions about using statistical and mathematical software at Indiana University, contact the UITS Research Applications and Deep Learning team.
This is document afqo in the Knowledge Base.
Last modified on 2023-05-09 14:39:56.