how to merge datasets

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gkwlewis@att.net - 05 Oct 2008 00:49 GMT

What are the steps to merging datasets. I have spss version 14. I
plan to upgrade, but would like to know how to do this on my current
version (hopefully there's not much difference). Please let me know
if I need to provide more information. This is my first post.

Thanks

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Bruce Weaver - 05 Oct 2008 02:20 GMT

> What are the steps to merging datasets. I have spss version 14. I
> plan to upgrade, but would like to know how to do this on my current
> version (hopefully there's not much difference). Please let me know
> if I need to provide more information. This is my first post.
>
> Thanks

There are two kinds of merges: Adding variables (columns) via
MATCH FILES, or adding cases (rows) via ADD FILES. To get to the
GUI dialogs for these procedures, click on Data - Merge Files, and
then select either Add Cases or Add Variables.

The UCLA website has some good tutorials on both types of merges.
Here is a general link:

http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/spss/

Click on the Data Management link, then look for the tutorials on
"concatenating" and "merging" files.

One thing you won't see in those tutorials* is that since v14 (if
I remember correctly), MATCH FILES and ADD FILES work on datasets
as well as on files stored on the computer disk. You can no doubt
find examples of that in the help files.

* The tutorials were written before SPSS was able to have more
than one dataset open at a time, and have not been updated to
reflect current capabilities.

Signature

Bruce Weaver
bweaver@lakeheadu.ca
http://sites.google.com/a/lakeheadu.ca/bweaver/
"When all else fails, RTFM."

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Math Forum / Math Software / SPSS / October 2008

how to merge datasets