Spss series - data entry and coding

SPSS Series
“Basics to Data Entry and Coding”
Dr. Majdi N. Al-Jasim
Consultant Family Medicine

OBJECTIVES
By the end of this workshop, you should be able to
achieve:
 Proper way of data entry in SPSS.
 Proper coding of different question types using SPSS.

Toggle between “Data
View” & “Variable View”
Each number represents a
participant or responder
Variables that could be
one coded or non-coded
item; as well as a newly
created parameter
Data View

Variable View
Each number represents
one “variable item”
Here you will define your
variables

Variable View
❑ Name: The nickname for your variable. It should start with letter
and does not include any operational characters “? ! * = + ( )
/ < >[ ]{ }” and does not end by dot “.” or underscore “_”. Also
no spacing is allowed. It should not exceed 64 characters.
❑ Type: The most commonly used types are:
▪ Numeric: this is the default in SPSS in which the data entry
will consists only of numbers, i.e. continuous data or
coded variables.
▪ String: here you can type any word in the variable. It is
used mainly for “open ended questions”, names… etc.

Variable View
❑ Width: How many characters you can put in the string
variable type. By default it is set to “8”.
❑ Decimals: How many decimal points can be viewed in
numeric variable type. By default it is set to “2”. Keep in
mind if your number doesn’t consist of decimal point, it will
be shown as “.00” as decimal points.

Variable View
❑ Label: Here you can put any description you like. All
characters are allowed here. It should not exceed 256
characters.
❑ Values: This is where you do coding for your variables. The
coding could be numeric or alphabetic (it is better to do
numeric coding because it can be used in data analysis
and processing later on). The value label should not
exceed 60 characters.

Variable View
In “Value” box, you will
put your code
In “Label” box, you will
put the real description
of your code. Max
characters is 60
All entered codes and
labels will be shown
here in this box

Variable View
❑ Missing: Here you can put a code for any missing data.
Usually the numeric code “99” is used since it is unlikely to
be used in the coding process of any other variable.
❑ Columns: Is the width size of column in Data View. By
default it is set to “8”.
❑ Align: Text alignment. By default it is set to “Right”.

Variable View
❑ Measure: This is could be:
▪ Nominal: Any categorical data in which the coded
value doesn’t matter.
Example: it doesn’t matter if you code (female = 1) or
(female = 2) in gender coding.
▪ Ordinal: Any categorical data in which order matters.
Example: severity, ranking, level… etc.
▪ Scale: Any continuous data.
Example: weights, height, age , scores… etc.

Variable View
❑ Role: The most commonly used types are:
▪ Input: used for independent variables (IV).
▪ Target: used for dependent variables (DV).
Usually you don’t need to change anything here since during
analysis you will set IV and DV anyway!!

Ground Role
Before doing data entry, you should
do manual appropriate coding for
your questionnaire before hand.
This is important for later reference
for you and for appropriate scoring
summation of certain items.

“No specific correct answer”
Use SPSS to do data entry and coding of the following question?
1# Multiple Choice Question
What is your marital status?
□ Single
□ Married
□ Divorced
□ Widowed

Data entry & coding tips:
In data entry and coding of MCQ without
specific correct answer, you can put
coding of the responses anyway you like.
Single = 1 Married = 2
Divorced = 3 Widowed = 4

Go to “Values”, and start your
coding for marital status

Since marital status is
Categorical Data, Set
“Measure” to nominal

This icon can toggle
between codes and
real entry name

“With one specific correct answer”
One of the following is criterion to diagnose DM-2:
□ FPG ⩾ 100mg/dL
□ RPG ⩾ 120mg/dL
□ HbA1C ⩾ 6.5%
□ Urine sugar ⩾ +3

Data entry & coding tips #1:
In data entry and coding of MCQ with
one specific correct answer, put coding
of the responses anyway you like. Later
on during scoring summation, use the
option “record into different variable” to
give the correct answer the highest score
(for example “5”) and the rest wrong
answers give them “0”

In Record into Different Variables, transfer your variable into “Input
Variable -> Output Variable” box, then give the new variable a name
and label, then press “Change”, then press “Old and New Values”

In this dialogue, put in
“Old Value” area in
“Value:” box the code of
correct answer and then
in “New Value” area in
“Value:” box give it the
correct answer mark (like
“5”).
Repeat the same process
for wrong answers but
give them the mark “0” in
“New Value” area in
“Value:” box .

You will have new variable that
is coded with “0” and “5”
values, you will just need to give
these values new labels

In variable view, you can give
labels to the new codes values

Here, give value “0” a label
“wrong answer”, and give
value “5” a label “correct
answer”

Toggle between codes
and real entry name to
check results

Do you have any of the following chronic disease
(you may choose more than one):
□ Hypertension
□ Diabetes Mellites
□ Bronchial asthma
□ Anemia
□ Other (specify) ………………………………….………………
“Possibility of more than one response”

In data entry and coding of MCQ with
possibility of more than one response (no
correct or wrong answer), put the coding
for each choice as “0” if unticked and as
“1” if ticked.
Here you will end up with several variable
entry in SPSS.
Hypertension = 0 / 1 DM = 0 / 1 BA = 0 / 1
Anemia = 0 / 1 Other = 0 / 1

check results

If you want to know exactly who only
choose some specific answers in MCQ
with possibility of more than one
response, you will need to go to the
option “Data” then “Select cases…” and
then from the choice “if condition is
satisfied” code all specific answers with
“1” and the rest with “0”.

Let’s say you want to know how many
have both Hypertension and Diabetes
Mellites, go to “Data” menu and
choose “Select Cases…”
ADVANCED TIP !

Now from “Select” area, choose
“If condition is satisfied” and the
press “If…”.

In this dialogue, declare
Hypertension as “=1”
which is referred to
“Yes” coding. Then put
the parameter “&” and
declare the same for
Diabetes Mellites

You will notice a new variable created called “filter_$”. Also
notice only participants with both Hypertension and Diabetes
Mellites are selected. The rest has been crossed.
Here, out of 4 cases only 1 case has both Hypertension and
Diabetes Mellites.

Before doing frequency analysis, you noticed only 1 case out of 4
has both Hypertension and Diabetes Mellites.

In Frequency dialogue, choose the variable “Hypertension = 1
and Diabetes Mellites = 1” then press “OK”.

In the output screen, it mentioned you only have 1 case that has both
Hypertension and Diabetes Mellites and that is exactly the reality.

REMEMBER…
Any further analysis you
will do later on will have
the filter you created
active (i.e. “filter_$” ).
You need to remove it
if you don’t need it
anymore.

As a good practice, MCQ with more than
one correct answer SHOULD be avoided.

“Keeping logical order”
4# Ordinal Question
What is your educational level:
□ Illiterate
□ Primary school
□ Intermediate school
□ Secondary school
□ University
□ Higher education

In data entry and coding of ordinal
question, you must put the coding in
logical stepwise manner, either
descending or ascending.
This logical stepwise manner is important
for logistic regression analysis later on.
Illiterate = 1 1ry school = 2
Intermediate school = 3 2ry school = 4
University = 5 Higher education = 6
4# Ordinal Question

4# Ordinal Question
Go to “Values”, and start your
coding for educational level

4# Ordinal Question
Since educational level is
Ordinal Data, Set “Measure” to
ordinal

4# Ordinal Question
check results

5# Continuous Data Question
What is your age in years:
……………………………..……………………… Years

In data entry and coding of continuous
data question, you just declare the
variable type as “Numeric” and variable
measure as “Scale”.

Since age is continuous Data,
Set “Measure” to scale
Since age is
continuous Data, Set
“Type” to numeric

“Q2 is dependent question”
6# Dependent Question
Q1. Did you have abortion previously:
□ Yes
□ No
If answer is (Yes), please answer Q2;
otherwise go to Q3
Q2. About how many times you got
abortion:
□ Once
□ Twice
□ More than twice

In data entry and coding of dependent
question, you must put coding in case
there was a jump between questions.
Here if the responder does not need to
answer the dependent question, you
should put extra coding for “non-
applicable” response and code it as “0”.
Non-applicable = 0 Once = 1
Twice = 2 More than twice= 3

Entering first question
as usual

Don’t forget to set
“Measure” to nominal
since this is
Categorical Data

In the dependent question
you should put extra code
for “Non-applicable”
response.
It is better to code it as “0”
since it can be used to
calculate scores later on

“With desired response”
7# Likert Scale Question
Folic acid intake during pregnancy can prevent neonatal spina bifida:
□ Strongly agree □ Agree □ Neutral □ Disagree □ Strongly disagree
Strongly agree is the best desired answer here followed by agree, neutral,
disagree and the least strongly disagree.

Folic acid intake during pregnancy can prevent sickle cell anemia:
□ Strongly agree □ Agree □ Neutral □ Disagree □ Strongly disagree
Strongly disagree is the best desired answer here followed by disagree, neutral,
agree and the lest strongly agree.
“With desired response”

In data entry and coding of scale
question with desired response, code the
most desired response with the highest
score and going down to the least
desired one.

Notice scoring of these two
items differ from the rest since
the desired response is reversed

Likert max score “5” is given
to “Strongly agree” for this
question

It may be called Likert scale but it is
actually not a scale measure in SPSS. It is
considered as categorical data and so
it is Nominal Measure. Some might
consider it as Ordinal Measure

Likert max score “5” is given
to “Strongly disagree” for
this question

How frequent you visited emergency department in the last month:
□ Very frequent □ Frequent □ Rarely □ Very Rarely □ Never
“Without desired response”

In data entry and coding of scale
question without desired response, you
can put coding of the responses anyway
you like.
Very frequent = 5 Frequent = 4
Rarely = 3 Very rarely = 2
Never = 1

Since there is no desired
response, you can
code Likert scale
whatever you like

Summary
SPSS Data Entry and
Coding
The most important parts in data entry in Variable View
are variable name, type, label, values and measure.
There are different ways of coding in SPSS depending on
the type of question. Proper coding in SPSS will ensure
smooth data analysis later on.

Spss series - data entry and coding

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