How To Automatically Code Unstructured Text Data

This article tells you how to automatically code unstructured text data. It will take you from unstructured verbatim (raw) text responses:

To a state where the verbatims are automatically categorized:

Requirements

You will need a Text variable in order to perform automatic coding. Text variables are represented by a small a next to the variable in the Data Sets tree:

Method

1. From the toolbar, go to Anything > Advanced Analysis > Text Analysis > Automatic Categorization > Unstructured Text.
2. In the object inspector, under Inputs > DATA SOURCE > Text variable select the text variable you want to automatically code.
3. In the object inspector, under Inputs > DATA SOURCE > Category Creation select Create New Categorization.
4. Under Inputs > CATEGORIES > Number of categories enter a numeric value for the number of categories you would like to end up with. The default is 10.
5. To save the categorizations for use in tables and other outputs, select the automatic categorization output on your page and click Inputs > SAVE VARIABLE(S) > Categories from the object inspector.