-1
$\begingroup$

I have questions in a survey that are dependent on other questions, i.e. nested questions. How do I enter those into SPSS?

Example:

What do you like about Coca-Cola?
1. It tastes the best
2. It's cheap and popular
3. It has a great reputation
(If no. 1 was selected)
Is that because...
1. It has a strong flavor
2. It has a different flavor than Pepsi

How can I link these two questions?

Improve this question
$\endgroup$

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1
$\begingroup$

Have the last two as their own variables. Use a user-define code to specify responses that did not pick "it tastes the best." Like the pic below. The value "-8" can be interpreted as "N/A".

enter image description here

In the variable view, click on the missing value cell for the two branched questions and assign "-8" (the value I picked, you may pick yours as long as this value is not one of them valid answers). Like this:

enter image description here

Then in frequency analysis you will see the sample size will be correctly displayed:

enter image description here

If you're familiar with syntax file and would like to document this change, you can use this syntax to achieve the same effect:

MISSING VALUES flavor different (-8) .
EXECUTE .

For more, see here and the SPSS online help on "MISSING VALUES".

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
4
  • $\begingroup$ This seems to be exactly what I need, thanks! Why was it voted negatively? $\endgroup$
    – MJ95
    Commented Jul 15, 2015 at 19:47
  • $\begingroup$ Don't encourage working without syntax. This holds especially for dictionary modifications since these aren't even appended to your journal file. $\endgroup$
    – RubenGeert
    Commented Jul 15, 2015 at 19:50
  • $\begingroup$ @RubenGeert Thanks for the comment. I have added the syntax line to the answer. $\endgroup$
    – Penguin_Knight
    Commented Jul 15, 2015 at 19:53
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @Penguin_Knight: thanks! I'm a bit of a hard-liner on this one: seen too many people who had to do their entire projects all over again because they couldn't say for sure what exactly they had done with their data. Very unprofessional. Running commands directly from the GUI is a recipe for disaster but many novice users learn this the hard way. $\endgroup$
    – RubenGeert
    Commented Jul 16, 2015 at 4:41

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.