Question

in which values one or more data taken ​

Answer 1

Hello,

I'm working with string variables in SPSS and encountered a problem in managing the data. My variables are codes assigned to each observation, where observations are turns of speaking in a discussion. Sometimes an observation has multiple codes assigned to THE SAME variable (see the picture), i. e., I have more than one value in one cell (in POSFEED - PR-COG, PI). I need to spread out my codes so that each observation contains only 1 value in each cell, i. e. instead of POSFEED I want to have PR-COG and PI as 2 new variables with 0 and 1 in the cells. The problem is this: when I use the RECODE syntax, SPSS does not recode the cells which contain more than 1 value. I understand why, because when using the statement

RECODE POSFEED ('PI' =1)  INTO PI.

EXECUTE.

PI, PI in the same cell does not equal to only one PI.

However, I have a lot of data and want to avoid recoding things manually. I tried using different logical functions and statement, but none of them seem to solve my problem. Can anybody suggest any solution to this?

Thank you!

P. S. My thinking is that an operator for "contains" instead of "equals" ("is", =) could solve the problem, but I can't find it anywhere.