How To Merge Data Files With Inconsistent Variable Names

The tools for Merging Data Files by adding cases assume that the variable names in the files are consistent. For example, they assume that if age is stored in q1 in one file, the other file will use the exact same Variable Name. Where this is not the case, several strategies can be used.

Requirements

• A professional user license
• Files to be merged must be stored on the Displayr Cloud Drive.
• Files to be merged must be .sav files

Methods

Liaise with the data file provider

Often, when data files do not match, it is due to an error by the person who created the file. It is often useful to get them to fix the problem, as in addition to solving the problem with the variable names mismatching, they may fix other problems that you have yet to discover at the same time.

Using the GUI

1. Select Anything > Data > Data Set > Combine > By Case.
2. In Object Inspector > Data > Data sets, type the name of the first file on the Cloud Drive in the Data set 1 box.
3. In Object Inspector >  Data > Data sets, type the name of the second file on the Cloud Drive in the Data set 2 box.
4. Type the name of the merged data set in the Combined data set name box. By default, it will be called Combined data set .sav.

Copying and renaming

The basic idea is to rename all variables in one file to match those in the other file.

1. Import the data file that contains the variables that you wish to rename.
2. In the Data Sources tree, select all the variables that you wish to rename.
3. Right-click and select Duplicate.
4. Rename the variables. If you are good with JavaScript, you can do this programmatically, but in most cases, manually changing it will be easiest and fastest.
5. Hide the original variables in the data file.
6. Export as an SPSS data file.
7. Merge the files.

Next

How to Combine Data Files by Adding New Records

How to Combine Data Files by Adding New Variables