Hello, I currently have a set of categorical variables, coded as Variable A,B,C,etc... (Yes = 1, No = 0). I would like to create a new variable called severity. To create severity, I know I'll need to create a coding scheme like so:
if Variable A = 1 and all other variables = 0, then severity = 1.
if Variable B = 1 and all other variables = 0, then severity = 2.
So on, and so forth, until I have five categories for severity.
How would you suggest I write a syntax in SPSS for something like this?
See Example 3 on the following page: https://www.spss-tutorials.com/spss-if-command/
* Create a toy dataset to illustrate.
NEW FILE.
DATASET CLOSE ALL.
DATA LIST LIST / A B C D E (5F1).
BEGIN DATA
1 0 0 0 0
0 1 0 0 0
0 0 1 0 0
0 0 0 1 0
0 0 0 0 1
1 1 0 0 0
0 1 1 0 0
0 0 1 1 0
0 0 0 1 1
1 0 2 0 0
END DATA.
IF A EQ 1 and MIN(B,C,D,E) EQ 0 AND MAX(B,C,D,E) EQ 0 severity = 1.
IF B EQ 1 and MIN(A,C,D,E) EQ 0 AND MAX(A,C,D,E) EQ 0 severity = 2.
IF C EQ 1 and MIN(B,A,D,E) EQ 0 AND MAX(B,A,D,E) EQ 0 severity = 3.
IF D EQ 1 and MIN(B,C,A,E) EQ 0 AND MAX(B,C,A,E) EQ 0 severity = 4.
IF E EQ 1 and MIN(B,C,D,A) EQ 0 AND MAX(B,C,D,A) EQ 0 severity = 5.
FORMATS severity (F1).
LIST.
* End of code.
Q. Is it possible for any of the variables A to E to be missing? If so, what do you want to do in that case?
I suppose each individual only have “yes” for one of this variables. In this situation, I would recode each one:
For A, yes=1
For B, yes=2
For C, yes=3
Foc D, yes=4
For E, yes = 5
Then, I would create a new variable adding A+B+C+D+E (in the main menu, choose “transform”, “compute variable”, and in “Numeric expression” write A+B+C+D. You have to put a new name in “target variable”.
As result, we have a new variable with values from 1 to 5.
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